Sunday, July 21, 2013

Muhammad, Elijah - Mujir al-Din al-'Ulaymi

Muhammad, ElijahMuhammad, Elijah (Elijah Muhammad) (October 7, 1897 - February 25, 1975).Leader of the Nation of Islam from 1934, when the founder, W. D. Fard, disappeared, to 1975.Known as “Prophet” and “Messenger of Allah,” under Elijah Muhammad the Nation of Islam gained national prominence and international recognition.

Elijah Muhammad was born Elijah Poole on October 7, 1897, in rural Sandersville, Georgia. His parents, Wali and Marie Poole, were former slaves who worked as sharecroppers. His father was also a Baptist preacher. .

Young Elijah went to school through the fourth grade and learned the rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic before economic conditions forced him to join the rest of his family working in the fields.As a boy, Elijah worked at various jobs involving manual labor.But there was little future in Sandersville, especially for a black boy who was one of thirteen children, so at the age of sixteen he left home.

In 1919, he married Clara Evans, and in 1923, he, Clara, and their two young children (there would be six more children) moved to Detroit, joining a mass of African Americans who migrated north seeking jobs after World War I.There, he held a series of jobs -- including a stint on a Chevrolet assembly line -- before the Great Depression hit and devastated the United States economy.

In 1930, Poole met Fard Muhammad, also known as Wallace D. Fard, who had founded the Lost-Found Nation of Islam.Fard had appeared in Detroit in the summer of that year, selling raincoats and later silks.He charmed his customers with tales of black history and showed them -- through ingenious interpretations of the Bible -- that Islam, not Christianity, was the religion of black men in Asia and Africa.Fard’s message struck a chord, and his initial sessions grew to gatherings in homes and then to mass assemblies in a hall that he and his followers hired and named the Temple of Islam.

Each person wishing to join the temple was required to write a letter asking for his original (Islamic) name to replace the slave name the white man gave his ancestors.When Elijah Poole and his two brothers applied for names, they neglected to indicate that they were related.The prophet -- as Fard was called -- inadvertently gave them three different surnames: Sharrieff, Karriem, and Muhammad.

Once accepted, Elijah Karriem -- as Poole was then called -- devoted himself to Fard and the movement.Opposed by some of the more moderate members of the Nation of Islam, Poole nevertheless became Fard’s most trusted lieutenant.Fard acknowledged his higher status by renaming Elijah Karriem, Elijah Muhammad, and by appointing Elijah Muhammad chief minister of the Nation of Islam.

In 1932, Fard sent Muhammad to Chicago to establish the Southside Mosque, which was later called Temple No. 2.Muhammad was successful in that venture, but at the same time back in Detroit, Fard was being subjected to severe scrutiny by the Detroit police.Fard was sent to jail in 1932 and was subsequently ordered out of Detroit in 1933.Fard went to Chicago in 1933 where he was arrested almost immediately and placed behind prison bars.

Fard was not the only object of policy interest.Elijah Muhammad himself was arrested in 1934 when he refused to transfer his children from the movement’s school, the University of Islam, to a public school.Tried in Detroit, he was found guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and placed on six months’ probation.

Likewise, the police were not the only organization with an interest in the Nation of Islam.Communists, anti-union, pro-Ethiopian, and pro-Japanese elements all tried to take over the movement for their own ends.Despite these pressures, Fard established effective organization, implemented ritual and worship, founded the University of Islam school for Muslim children, and instituted the Fruit of Islam, a paramilitary organization meant to protect the organization from police and other unbelievers.

When Fard disappeared in June of 1934, most saw Elijah Muhammad, his chief minister, as a natural successor.But Detroit was filled with rivals, so Muhammad returned to Chicago and Temple No. 2.There he set up new headquarters and began to reshape the movement under his own highly militant leadership.He equated Fard with “Allah” and instituted prayers and sacrifices to Fard.He also assumed the mantle of “Prophet,” which “Allah” had worn during this mission in Detroit.

Small of stature (only five feet, five inches tall) and thin voiced, Elijah Muhammad was physically an unlikely leader of a mass movement.However, what he lacked in physical stature he more than made up for in intensity and radicalism.European Americans, according to Elijah Muhammad, had created and perpetuated the oppressive conditions of African Americans, but the African American had allowed the oppression to continue by remaining “in a land not his own.”According to Elijah Muhammad, racial separation was the only answer.The racial separation Elijah Muhammad was talking about was not the “back to Africa” movement that black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey had proposed a generation previously, but rather a carving out of a black nation either from the lands of Africa or from the continental United States itself.

According to Elijah Muhammad, African Americans were the original, superior race of humans on earth.The tribe of Shabazz -- the black race -- began when an explosion divided the earth and the moon sixty-six trillion years ago.Whites, Elijah Muhammad claimed, were created by the evil magician Yakub.Yakub had grafted the weaker of two germs that exist within blacks, and the end product of his biological experiment was the white race.As a result of their unnatural creation, whites were, according to Elijah Muhammad, evil and degraded.Elijah Muhammad believed that the white man’s reign on earth was to last 6,000 years before Allah came, at which time the white race would reach its end.For the members of the Nation of Islam, the coming of Allah was the coming of the Supreme Black Man, -- the Supreme Being presiding over a mighty nation of divine black men.

The Nation of Islam became known for fostering black pride and self-sufficiency among its predominantly young, male, lower-class members.Elijah Muhammad promoted an effective program of good health, self-improvement, and moral guidelines for members of the movement to follow.Alcohol, tobacco, and the “slave diet” of pork and cornbread were prohibited.One meal of fresh food was encouraged.Male members were required to recruit new followers to the faith, and a strict code of marital fidelity was enforced.Elijah Muhammad also encouraged members to improve themselves economically and provided schooling and training in business enterprises to assist them in attaining the goal of financial independence.

Throughout the 1930s, Elijah Muhammad and his staff continued to build temples in the heart of black communities throughout the United States.During World War II, federal authorities saw the Nation of Islam’s separatist ideology as a threat to the war effort.In 1942, Elijah Muhammad was arrested and charged with sedition and violation of the Selective Service Act.Cleared of sedition charges, Elijah Muhammad was convicted of exhorting his followers to avoid the draft.He spent the remaining years of the war in a federal prison in Milan, Michigan, where he was able to control the movement from his prison quarters.

Although he suffered from asthma and bronchitis, Elijah Muhammad was nevertheless able to keep the movement going.His column in the Pittsburgh Courier was widely read and commented on in the African American community.In the late 1940s, Malcolm Little joined the movement while serving in a Massachusetts prison.Renamed Malcolm X, after his release Malcolm became Muhammad’s chief disciple and bore Muhammad’s message across the country.And the movement grew.

By 1960, the Nation of Islam had 69 temples or missions in 27 states.Tiny compared to conventional churches, its growth nevertheless became a matter of concern for both conservative and liberal factions.Many believed that Elijah Muhammad’s anti-white diatribes could only lead to greater enmity between blacks and whites.However, while many criticized the Nation of Islam’s anti-white rhetoric, its positive effects could not be overlooked.Intermixed with the discourse on “white devils,” there was an inspirational message.The point of Elijah Muhammad’s message was the worth, the competence and the solidarity of black folks.He urged them to express it through a meld of puritan morals (no cigarettes, liquor, drugs or non-marital sex) and Protestant work ethics.

Perhaps because of the movement’s tremendous growth and Malcolm X’s pivotal role in creating that growth, some say a rift had developed and that Muhammad was looking for an opportunity to put Malcolm X in his place.That opportunity arose in November of 1963 when Malcolm told a Black Muslim rally at Manhattan Center that the assassination of President Kennedy was an instance of “the chickens coming home to roost.”While Malcolm’s statement was not against Nation of Islam dogma, it was not the kind of utterance Muhammad wanted him to make in public.As punishment, Malcolm was silenced for 90 days.

Malcolm accepted the punishment, but on March 8, 1964, he broke with Muhammad, telling the press that he was leaving the Nation of Islam to organize his own organization, to the great consternation and even anger of Elijah Muhammad.

Internal differences between Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X, followed by the break between the two men and Malcolm’s assasination (for which three Black Muslims were later convicted), provided a great deal of unfavorable media coverage, but this did not slow the growth of the movement.

However, after Malcolm X was assassinated in February of 1965, Muhammad kept close to his Chicago mansion, giving few interviews and rarely appearing in public.When he did appear it was in the company of hundreds of Fruit of Islam security guards.Mostly he worked in the Nation of Islam offices, planning recruitment strategies and tending to the movement’s growing network of businesses, farmlands, and restaurants.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Elijah Muhammad moderated the Nation’s criticism of European Americans without compromising its message of black integrity.But, in the early 1970s, an increasing radicalism made itself felt in the Black Muslim movement.A January 1972 shootout between police and a Louisiana Nation of Islam splinter group brought to light a split in the movement.Younger activists began to become disenchanted with the relatively exorbitant sums of money the Nation of Islam was spending on mansions for Elijah Muhammad, his family, and his aides in Chicago.

On January 30, 1975, Elijah Muhammad entered Mercy Hospital in Chicago suffering from heart trouble, bronchitis, asthma, and diabetes.He died on February 25, 1975.

When Muhammad died in 1975, the Nation of Islam had become an important religious, political, and economic force among African Americans, especially in the country’s major cities.Today, his legacy is not just one organization but two.His spiritual successor, Louis Farrakhan, continued Elijah Muhammad’s separatist philosophy, while Elijah Muhammad’s genetic successor, Wallace D. Muhammad, reformed his father’s movement into a more orthodox Islamic movement which received commendations from around the world.

Ultimately, it must be noted that Elijah Muhammad was not original in his rejection of Christianity as the religion of the oppressor.Noble Drew Ali and the Black Jews had arrived at this conclusion well before him.But Muhammad was the most successful salesman for this brand of African American religion.Thus he was able to build the first strong, African American religious group in the United States that appealed primarily to the unemployed and underemployed city dweller, and ultimately to some in the African American middle class.In addition, his message on the virtues of being black was explicit and uncompromising.Elijah Muhammad sought with at least a little success to bolster the economic independence of African Americans by establishing schools and businesses under the auspices of the Nation of Islam.

Muhammad Husayn HaykalMuhammad Husayn Haykal (Muhammad Husayn Haikal) (Muhammad Hussein Haekal) (August 20, 1888 – December 8 1956).Egyptian writer.He played a political role as minister and president of the Senate, but above all he was active in literature and in the study of Muslim religion.His first and best novel is called Zaynab (1914), and in his well-known Life of Muhammad he defended Islam and Arabism, but without sectarianism.

Muhammad Hussein Haekal was an Egyptian writer, journalist, politician and Minister of Education in Egypt.

Haekal was born in Mansoura, Ad Daqahliyah in 1888. He obtained a bachelor of arts degree in Law in 1909 and a juris doctor degree from the Sorbonne University in 1912. After returning to Egypt, he worked as a lawyer for 10 years, then as a journalist. He was elected as editor-in-chief of Al Siyasa newspaper, the organ of "The Constitutional Tory Party" for which he was also an advisor. In 1937, he was appointed as Minister of State for the Interior Ministry in Muhammad Mahmoud Pasha's second government. Then he was appointed as a Minister of Education where he introduced several reforms, including decentralization, by establishing educational zones and making programs and curricula nationally oriented. He was greatly influenced and inspired by the comprehensive reforms of Mohammad Abduh, Ahmad Lutfy El Sayed and Qasim Amin. Haekal is the father of Fayza Haekal.

He died in 1956.

His works include:

* Zeinab, 1914; the first modern Egyptian novel* Biographies of Egyptian and Western Personalities, 1929* The Life of Muhammad, 1933, a biography of Muhammad* In the House of Revelation, 1939* Al Farouq Omar,1944/45* Memories on Egyptian politics, 1951-53* Thus Was I Created, 1955* Faith, Knowledge and Philosophy, 1964* The Islamic Empire and sacred places, 1964.* Egyptian short stories, 1967* Othman Ibn Affan, 1968* Mehraj-ud-din beigh

Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya ("Muhammad the Pure Souled") was a descendant of Muhammad through his daughter Fatimah. Known for his commanding oratory skills, amiable demeanor, and impressive build, he led a failed rebellion in Medina against the second Abbasid Caliph, Al-Mansur, on December 6, 762.

Initially, Dhu al-Nafs Al-Zakiyyah hoped to rebel against Umayyad rule, when the children of Hashim paid their allegiance to him at Abwa. Among them were Ibrahim al-Imam, As-Saffah and Al-Mansur. But it soon became clear that Abbasid rule was established, so those who had paid allegiance to him deserted him, and another group of Shiites flocked around him.

Muhammad was an inspirational figure to many throughout the caliphate, who believed that he was destined for glory due to his ancestry—though some viewed him as overly idealistic. For years he disguised himself and travelled stealthily, since his descent from the prophet meant that he posed a threat to the established political order. He was eventually able to amass a sizable but ragtag army and seize the city of Medina. He then left Medina in the year 762 and took over Mecca and Yemen (only to be killed in Medina a few months later).

Medina was an exceptionally poor place for any large-scale rebellion due to its dependency on other provinces for goods. Additionally, Muhammad's motley army of devotees never stood a chance against the Caliph's imperial soldiers. Despite the obvious advantage held by the Abbasid troops, Muhammad refused to step down in the hours before battle, blindly believing that utilizing the historic trenches dug by the Prophet to fortify the city decades earlier would result in victory. His naiveté led to a crushing defeat at the hands of the Abbasids, quelling for the time the possibility that the prophet's family would ascend to political power.

Due to the unrealistically high expectation among his followers of success, a section of his followers were shocked and could not bear the news of his defeat, and did not believe his murder, since they believed he was the Mahdi, whose appearance they had been awaiting for a very long time. They believed he was alive and did not die, nor was he killed, but was staying on the Mount of Ilmiyyah (between Makkah and Najd) till the time when he would reappear. This faction of his followers held onto the supposed hadith of Muhammad, which states that the Mahdi’s name is like Muhammad’s name and the Mahdi’s father’s name is like Muhammad’s father’s name (Abdallah).

Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah HassanMuhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah Hassan (Sayyīd Muhammad `Abd Allāh al-Hasan) (Sayid Maxamed Cabdille Xasan) (Sayyid Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan) (Mohammed Abdullah Hassan) (Muhammad 'Abdullah Hassan) (b. April 7, 1864, Dulbahante area, British Somaliland [now Doli Bahanta, Somalia] — d. December 21, 1920, Imi, Ethiopia).Local Somali equivalent of the Sudanese Mahdi.Called by his British opponents “the Mad Mullah,” he preached the puritanical message of the Salihiyya order, and was led to proclaim a “Holy War” against the Christian missionary activities and increasing Ethiopian military pressure in the Ogaden.In 1904, he signed a peace treaty (the “Illig Agreement”) with the Italians.By 1908, the Dervishes renewed their campaign and were finally defeated in 1920.He was the leading Somali poet of his epoch and was admired for his brilliant command of Somali rhetoric.

Sayyīd Muhammad `Abd Allāh al-Hasan was a Somali religious and nationalist leader. Referred to as the Mad Mullah by the British, he established the Dervish State in Somalia that fought an anti-imperial war for a period of over 20 years against British, Italian, and Ethiopian forces.

Because of his active resistance to the British and his vision of a Somalia united in a Muslim brotherhood transcending clan divisions, Sayyid Maxamed is seen as a forerunner of modern Somali nationalism. He also is revered for his skill as an oral poet.

Maxamed’s father belonged to a clan from the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, but he was raised among his mother’s Dulbahante clan. At a young age he showed great learning in the Qurʾān, and, during a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1894, he joined the Ṣaliḥīyah, a militant, reformist, and puritanical Ṣūfī order. Soon after his return to Somaliland, he began urging the expulsion of the English “infidels” and their missionaries and a strict observance by all Somalis of the Islamic faith. Through his stirring oratory and didactic verse (some of his poems are considered classics in Somalia), Maxamed attracted a fanatical group of followers who became known as dervishes. In 1899 he declared a holy war (jihad) on the colonial powers and their Somali collaborators. Between 1900 and 1904, four major British, Ethiopian, and Italian expeditions were made against Maxamed. By 1905 he was forced to conclude a truce, under which he and his followers constructed a small theocratic state in the Italian protectorate. In 1908 he began his holy war again, winning a major victory at Dulmadobe in 1913. Early in 1920, however, the dervish stronghold at Taalex (Taleh) was bombed, and Maxamed escaped to the Ogaden, where he died of influenza. With his death the dervish rebellion ceased.

Having completed his formal education in the holy city of Medina, in Arabia, ʿAbd al-Wahhāb lived abroad for many years. He taught for four years in Basra, Iraq, and in Baghdad he married an affluent woman whose property he inherited when she died. In 1736, in Iran, he began to teach against what he considered to be the extreme ideas of various exponents of Sufi doctrines. On returning to his native city, he wrote the Kitāb at-tawḥīd (“Book of Unity”), which is the main text for Wahhābī doctrines. His followers call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn, or “Unitarians”; the term Wahhābī is generally used by non-Muslims and opponents.

ʿAbd al-Wahhāb’s teachings have been characterized as puritanical and traditional, representing the early era of the Islamic religion. He made a clear stand against all innovations (bidʿah) in Islamic faith because he believed them to be reprehensible, insisting that the original grandeur of Islam could be regained if the Islamic community would return to the principles enunciated by the Prophet Muhammad. Wahhābī doctrines, therefore, do not allow for an intermediary between the faithful and Allah and condemn any such practice as polytheism. The decoration of mosques, the cult of saints, and even the smoking of tobacco were condemned.

When the preaching of these doctrines led to controversy, ʿAbd al-Wahhāb was expelled from ʿUyaynah in 1744. He then settled in Ad-Dirʿīyah, capital of Ibn Saʿūd, a ruler of the Najd (now in Saudi Arabia).

The spread of Wahhābīsm originated from the alliance that was formed between ʿAbd al-Wahhāb and Ibn Saʿūd, who, by initiating a campaign of conquest that was continued by his heirs, made Wahhābīsm the dominant force in Arabia after 1800.

Muhammad ibn 'Abd Al-Wahhab had four sons; Hussain, Abdullah, Ali and Ibrahim and a fifth son who died in his youth. All his surviving sons established religious schools close to their homes and taught the young students from Diriyah and other places.

The works of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab include:

* Usuulu Thalaatha (The Three Fundamental Principles)* Al Qawaaid Al ‘Arbaa’ (The Four Fundamental Principles)* The Six Fundamental Principles* Adab al-Mashy Ila as-Salaa (Manners of Walking to the Prayer)* Usul al-Iman (Foundations of Faith)* Fada`il al-Islam (Excellent Virtues of Islam)* Fada`il al-Qur’an (Excellent Virtues of the Qur’an)* Kitab at-Tauhid (The Book of the Unity of God)* Kitab Kashf as-Shubuhat (The Book of Clarification of Uncertainties)* Majmu’a al-Hadith ‘Ala Abwab al-Fiqh {Compendium of the Hadith on the Main Topics of the Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence)}* Mukhtasar al-Iman (Literally Abridgement of the Faith, means the summarized version of a work on Faith)* Mukhtasar al-Insaf wa`l-Sharh al-Kabir (Abridgement of the Equity and the Great Explanation)* Mukhtasar Seerat ar-Rasul (Summarized Biography of the Prophet)* Mukhtasar al-Sawa`iq (Literally Summary of the Lightning Bolt, a summary of a criticism of Shi’as written in Palestine by Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani).* Mukhtasar Fath al-Bari (Fath al-Bari, a commentary on the Sahih al-Bukhari by Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani).* Mukhtasar al-Minhaj (Summary of the Path, most likely referring to Minhaj al-Sunna by Ibn Taymiyya)* Kitaabu l-Kabaair (The Book of Great Sins)* Kitabu l-Imaan (The Book of Trust/Belief)

Muḥammad I Askia was a West African statesman and military leader who usurped the throne of the Songhai empire (1493) and, in a series of conquests, greatly expanded the empire and strengthened it. He was overthrown by his son, Askia Mūsā, in 1528.

Both Muḥammad’s place and date of birth are unknown. For a long time, he was thought to be a Silla (a Tukulor clan of Senegal) or a Touré of Soninke origin, but it now seems that his name, as spelled in Arabic by 18th-century Timbuktu chroniclers, was Muḥammad al-Ṭūrī, or Muḥammad of the Toro (Fouta-Toro of Senegal). It is thus believed that he was probably of Tukulor origin, from a Senegalese family that had settled in Gao. The name of his clan was probably Kan, or Dyallo. Oral tradition, however, which is still very much alive, makes Mamar (Muḥammad’s popular name) out to be Sonni ʿAlī’s nephew, his sister Kasey’s son by a jinni, a supernatural being.

After the death of Sonni ʿAlī, the ruler who had solidified the Songhai empire from 1464 to 1492, Muḥammad tried, as early as February 1493, to wrest power from Sonni ʿAlī’s son Sonni Baru, who had been elected by acclamation on January 21. In the Battle of Anfao on April 12, 1493, Muḥammad’s forces, though inferior in number, were victorious. Traditional religions tinged with the esoteric Songhai Islam of the Sonnis gave way to an Islamic state whose civil code was the Qurʾān and whose official writing was Arabic. After conquering the enemy, Muḥammad assumed the title of Askia (or Askiya) in order to ridicule, it is said, the daughters of the fallen Sonnis who said of him a si tya, or “he will not be.” The name Askia became the name of the dynasty that he founded and the name of its leaders.

While Sonni ʿAlī had been a warrior, Muḥammad was above all a statesman. He set up an efficient administration of the regions conquered by his predecessor. He began by dividing Songhai into provinces and placed each under a governor. A standing army and a fleet of war canoes were organized under the command of a general and an admiral. Moreover, Muḥammad created the positions of director of finance, justice, interior, protocol, agriculture, waters and forests, and of “tribes of the white race” (Moors and Tuaregs who at that time were vassals of the Songhai and furnished them with squadrons of dromedary-mounted troops). All these officials were for the most part chosen from among the nobles and were brothers, sons, or cousins of Muḥammad.

This exemplary organization of an African state was completed by a religious organization. Although a faithful believer, Muḥammad was not very well informed in matters of religious orthodoxy and, therefore, took as an adviser the Moroccan reformer al-Maghīlī, persecutor of the Jews of Touat, to help him put his realm in order, in particular to recover the possessions belonging to the descendants of the defeated Sonnis and to subservient groups not converted to Islam. Establishing Islam as the official religion of the nobles was without doubt the only error of this statesman. From then on, it was no longer a popular religion but an imported one that later was to justify the conquest of the Songhai by Moroccan Muslims.

Nevertheless, it was to receive the necessary counsel directly from “God’s House” that in 1495, two years before his accession to power, Muḥammad undertook a pilgrimage to Mecca. This pilgrimage has remained famous as much for the pomp with which it was carried out as for the marvelous tales to which it gave rise. The chronicler Mahmud Kati, who accompanied Muḥammad, wrote in Taʾrīkh al-fattāsh that the jinn of Mecca had Muḥammad named caliph and told him what his rights were over the former vassal groups of the Sonnis. By the time he returned in 1497, he was a leader deeply converted to Islam. Next he would proceed to consolidate and enlarge Songhai.

Militarily he met with uneven success. Although between 1498 and 1502 he was victorious over the Mossi of Yatenga and the inhabitants of the Aïr (Niger), a few years later (1505–06) he undertook an unsuccessful campaign against Borgu (the present boundary region of Niger and Nigeria). Similarly, although during 1507 and 1514 he reduced the insurgent Fulani factions in Senegal and the Bornu factions near Agadez, one of his lieutenants, the Karta of Kabi, revolted against him in turn and, despite his efforts during 1516 and 1517, remained independent. As an organizer of an effective administrative system he was more successful.

During the course of his lengthy sojourns in the capital, Gao (1502–04 and 1506–07), he set up with rare talent the system of tithes and taxes, the regulation of agriculture and fishing, and the recruitment and training of his administrators and governors.

The extent of the Songhai empire of this period remains conjectural. Sadi, the Timbuktu chronicler, has said that the territory that Muḥammad conquered “by fire and sword” extended west as far as the Atlantic Ocean, northwest to the salt mines of Teghaza (on the northern border of present-day Mali), southwest as far as Bendugu (Segu), southeast to Bussa, and northeast to Agadez. It is certain that the influence of Songhai during Muḥammad’s time was considerable and extended even beyond these boundaries. All the surrounding states, whether allies or enemies, experienced its civilizing ferment.

This influence was reinforced by an indirect, though nonetheless profound, Islamic propaganda. Muslim scholars went into areas they would not have been able to penetrate without the Gao ruler’s support. For several centuries to come, the small African states and the neighboring leaders would take as their model the Islamic empire of Songhai and its prestigious leader, Muḥammad. Even today, according to oral tradition, Muḥammad appears as a jinni, who either took after his father or after those with whom, by a special gift, he was able to consult during his pilgrimage to Mecca.

The end of Muhammad's reign was, however, tragic. Little by little his dream of an Islamized Sudan, whose emir he would be, evaporated. Even during his lifetime, his children were quarreling over the spoils. After the death of his commander in chief, Kanfari Omar, one of his brothers, in 1519, Muḥammad was no longer safe even in Gao, and the Songhai people seemed to him “as crooked as the course of the Niger River . . .” Embittered, half blind, the old man had no one left but his friend and adviser, his servant Ali Folen. The almost religious fear that he inspired gave way to contempt. Musa, his eldest son, plotted against him and in 1528 killed his new general in chief, Yaya, another of Muḥammad’s brothers, who had remained faithful to him. Musa then dispossessed his father, taking the name Askia Mūsā. He kept this title for three years before being assassinated himself by one of his brothers. Now deposed, the old Askia Muḥammad was banished to an island in the river, a place “infested with mosquitoes and toads.” There, from 1528 to 1537, he was a blind and despairing witness to the murderous quarrels of his children over the territory of Songhai.

In 1537 his third successor, his son Askia Ismaïl, recalled his father to Gao. To reward him, Muḥammad bequeathed to him his green turban and his caliph’s sabre. In 1538, during a period of temporary calm, the founder of a dynasty died. He was buried in Gao, under a pyramid of earth surmounted by wooden spikes. His tomb is still standing and has become one of the most venerated mosques in all of West Africa.

Muhammad ibn Abi HudhayfaMuhammad ibn Abi Hudhayfa (Muhammad ibn Abi Hudhaifa)(d. 657).Companion of the Prophet.He was born in Abyssinia.In 655, he took the functions of the governor of Egypt into his own hands, was confirmed by the Caliph ‘Ali but killed by Mu‘awiya’s troops.

Muhammad ibn Abi Hudhaifa was the son of Abu Hudhaifa ibn 'Utba. He was born in Abyssinia in during the Prophet Muhammad's life. His father was killed in Al-Yamama, after which he was raised by 'Uthman ibn 'Affan. He played part in the revolt against 'Uthman when the latter refused to appoint him as ruler for any province.

Muhammad ibn Abi Hudhaifa see Muhammad ibn Abi Hudhayfa

Muhammad ibn

Ahmad al-AskandaraniMuhammad ibn Ahmad al-Askandarani. Twentieth century Arab physician, who is regarded as the first Qur’an interpreter in modern times to discuss non-Arab occidental sciences in Qur’an commentaries.

Muhammad ibn al-HanafiyyaMuhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya (637-700).Son of the Prophet’s son-in-law.The ‘Alid al-Mukhtar stirred up a movement in Iraq in 685, as champion of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya’s rights, but the latter acted with great restraint.In the end, he recognized the Umayyad Caliph ‘Abd al-Malik as the legitimate ruler and visited him in 697 at Damascus.

Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, surnamed "Abu'l-Qasim", was an early Muslim leader. He was the son of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first Shi'ite Imam and the fourth Sunni Caliph. He was called Ibn al-Hanafiyyah after his mother, Khawlah bint Ja'far; who was known as Hanafiyyah after her tribe Banu Hanifah. After the death of Muhammad, the people of Yamamah were declared apostates by the Muslims for refusing to pay the zakat (religious tax). The men were killed, and the women were taken to Medina as slaves, Khawlah bint Ja'far among them. When her tribesmen found out, they approached Ali ibn Abi Talib and asked him to save her from slavery and to protect her family’s honor and prestige. Consequently, Ali ibn Abi Talib purchased her, set her free, and, after the death of Fatimah, married her.

Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah was born during Umar's era, the third of Ali's sons (he had more than a dozen) and the only child of Khawlat bint Ja'far. During his father's lifetime he distinguished himself for piety, rectitude, and courage and effectiveness in war. He particularly distinguished himself at the battles of Jamal and Siffin.

When Imam Husayn undertook the expedition to Kufa that ended at Karbala, Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah advised him not to go, pointing out that the men of Kufa had betrayed and turned against their father Ali and their brother Hasan ibn Ali, and saying that he feared that they would betray Husayn as well. Husayn replied that he feared that if he stayed in Mecca, Yazid ibn Muawiya would have him killed there, and violate the sanctity of the Holy City. Muhammad ibn al-Hanifiyyah then urged him to go instead to Yemen, where he could indefinitely elude an army. The next day Husayn replied that his grandfather Muhammad had appeared to him in a dream and required him to undertake this sacrificial expedition.

After Husayn and so many of his kinsmen died at Karbala and the young Ali ibn Husayn adopted a life of retirement and prayer, Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah became the visible head of the house of Ali. It was in his name that Al-Mukhtar rebelled in Kufa in 686. In the hajj of 688, four men led their respective followers in the rites of pilgrimage, claiming the headship of Islam. One was Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, leading the Shi'ites. The others were Abdullah ibn Zubayr, who ruled in Mecca; Abd al-Malik, the Umayyad, who ruled in Damascus; and Najdah ibn 'Amir, leader of the Kharijites.

Ibn al-Hanafiyyah was called "the Mahdi," "the rightly-guided," which then was simply a pledge of confidence in his knowledge, character, and judgment over those of the rival caliphs. In 692, he traveled to Damascus and swore allegiance to Abd al-Malik. In 700, he died in Medina, but thereafter a legend grew up that he was not dead, but living in seclusion on a mountain near Medina, protected and fed by wild animals, and that he would, in God's good time, return to establish justice and true religion in the world. Thus arose the legend of the Mahdi as savior. This is not to be confused with the Twelver Shia Mahdi, who is the son of the 11th Imam Hasan al-Askari.

After Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya died, his son Abu Hashim claimed the imamate. After his death the Abbasids claimed that on his deathbed Abu Hashim nominated his distant cousin Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Abdullah ibn Abbas ibn Abdu'l-Muttalib ibn Hashim as the imam. This man's son Abu'l-Abbas Abdullah as-Saffah became the first Abbasid caliph, repudiating Shi'ism, which effectively extinguished the sect that had recognized Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah as an imam.

Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al-RidaMuhammad ibn ‘Ali al-Rida. Ninth Imam of the Twelver Shi‘a (r.811-835).His succession to the imamate as a minor after his father’s death in 818 stirred up considerable controversy.

Muhammad ibn Habib, Abu Ja‘farMuhammad ibn Habib, Abu Ja‘far (Abu Ja‘far Muhammad ibn Habib) (d. 860).Arab philologist of the school of Baghdad.He studied especially the history of pre-Islamic and early Islamic times and the genealogy of their leaders and representatives.Abu Ja‘far Muhammad ibn Habib see Muhammad ibn Habib, Abu Ja‘far

Muhammad ibn ‘Isa al-MahaniMuhammad ibn ‘Isa al-Mahani (Abu-Abdullah Muhammad ibn Īsa Māhānī). Persian mathematician and astronomer of the ninth century.He wrote commentaries on Euclid’s Elements, on Archimedes, and a partial revision of the deficient translation of the Spherics of Menelaus.

A series of observations of lunar and solar eclipses and planetary conjunctions, made by him from 853 to 866, was in fact used by Ibn Yunus.

He wrote commentaries on Euclid and Archimedes, and improved Ishaq ibn Hunain's translation of Menelaus of Alexandria's Spherics. He tried vainly to solve an Archimedean problem: to divide a sphere by means of a plane into two segments being in a given ratio of volume. That problem led to a cubic equation,

x3 + c2b = cx2

which Muslim writers called al-Mahani's equation.

Abu-Abdullah Muhammad ibn Īsa Māhānī see Muhammad ibn ‘Isa al-Mahani

Muhammad ibn Mahmud ibn Muhammad ibn Malik ShahMuhammad ibn Mahmud ibn Muhammad ibn Malik Shah (b. 1128).Saljuq sultan in western Persia (r.1153-1159).He besieged Baghdad in 1156, but had to raise the siege on hearing news of the appearance at Hamadhan of Il-deniz, the atabeg of Azerbaijan.

Muhammad ibn Mahmud ibn SebuktiginMuhammad ibn Mahmud ibn Sebuktigin (b. c. 997).Ghaznavid sultan in Ghazna and northwestern India (r.1030-1031 and 1040-1041).He was deposed by his brother Mas‘ud, but after the latter had been defeated by the Saljuqs at Dandanqan in 1040 and his army had mutinied, Muhammad became sultan for a second time.In 1041, however, he was defeated by Mas‘ud’s son Mawdud near Jalalabad.

Muhammad ibn MakkiMuhammad ibn Makki (al-Shahid al-Awwal) (Shahid Awwal) (ash-Shahid al-Awwal) (1333-1384/1385).Imami Shi‘a jurist, traditionist, poet and litterateur.He was put to death at Damascus at the order of a Maliki judge.

Shahid Awwal was the first Islamic martyr and the author of al-Lum'ah al-Dimashqiya. He was one of the greatest Shi'a scholars.

Shahid Awwal was born in Jabal 'Amel. According to the fatwa of a jurisprudent from the Maliki sect which was endorsed by a jurisprudent of the Shaf'i sect, he was martyred.

He was a pupil of the pupils of Allamah Hilli, amongst them Allamah's son, Fakhr ul-Muhaqqeqin. The Shi'a schools were banned and declined in Jabal 'Amel. When Mohammad bin Makki was 16 years old he ventured to al-Hilla in Iraq where he was certified by Fakhr al-MuHaqqiqin, the son of the famous al-Hilli.

By the age 21, he returned to Jabal 'Amel and was certified to narrate hadiths by many other famous scholars of Shi'a and Sunni doctrines of Najaf, Hebron, Makka, Medina, Quds, Damascus, and Baghdad. He also built good relations with Sultan Ali ibn al-Mu'ayyad of Khorasan.

He was killed by the sword then crucified and then stoned in Damascus in the days of the Sultan Barquq after he was imprisoned one full year. Due to the crusaders' wars the area was suffering from poverty and ignorance was rampant as the Mamelukes took over and established a despotic rule in the region.

Shahid Awwal came from a very distinguished family, and the generations that succeeded him preserved this honor. He had three sons who were all 'ulema and jurisprudents, and his wife and daughter were likewise jurisprudents.

While imprisoned he wrote the most famous Shi'a book of the time and still referenced today, The Damascene Glitter
(Arabic: al-lum'ah al-Dimashqiya) in which he combined all religious practices according to the Shi'a school of thought. It is said that he wrote it in seven days.

Muhammad ibn Makki, known as Shahid Awal ("the First Martyr"), was one of the great Shi'ite jurisprudents. He is of the rank of Muhaqqiq Hilli and Allamah Hilli. He was from Jabal 'Amel, an area in today's south Lebanon which is one of the oldest centers of Shi'ites and still is today a Shi'ite area.

The famous books of Shahid Awal on jurisprudence include Al-lum'ah which he composed during the brief period he remained in prison awaiting his martyrdom. Amazingly, this noble book was subject to a commentary two centuries later by another great jurisprudent who suffered the same fate as the author. He too was martyred and thus became called Shahid al-Thani ("The Second Martyr"). The famous book Sharh ul-lum'ah which has been the primal textbook of the students of jurisprudence ever since is the commentary of Shahid Thani.

Other books of Shahid Awwal include Durou, Thikra, Bayan, Alfiyeh and Qawa'id. All of the books of the First Martyr are among the most esteemed writings of Shi'a jurisprudence.

Muhammad ibn Malik Shah IIMuhammad ibn Malik Shah II (b. 1082).Great Saljuq sultan in Iraq and western Persia (r.1105-1118).In 1104, his half-brother Sultan Berkyaruq agreed to a division of power, with Muhammad to have northwestern Persia, al-Jazira and Syria, whilst Muhammad’s full brother Sanjar was to remain in Khurasan acknowledging Muhammad as his overlord.The period after Muhammad’s death saw the rise of the Turkish atabegs.

Muhammad ibn MarwanMuhammad ibn Marwan (d. 719).Umayyad commander and governor.He was a son of the Caliph Marwan I ibn al-Hakam and half-brother of the Caliph ‘Abd al-Malik.

Muhammad ibn SahnunMuhammad ibn Sahnun (817-870).Maliki jurisconsult from Qayrawan.He was responsible for the definitive implantation of Malikism in the Maghrib.

Muhammad of Ghor was the Afghan conqueror of northern India.A brother of the sultan of Ghor, he was made governor of Ghazni in 1173 and from there launched a series of invasions of India. By 1186, he had conquered the Muslim principalities in the Punjab. He was severely defeated by the Rajputs under Prithvi Raj Prithvi Raj (prĭt`vē räj), d. 1192, ruler of the Chauan dynasty of northern India in 1191, but the following year he routed their army, and Delhi was captured. Muhammad's generals then overran Bihar and Bengal. He succeeded his brother as sultan in 1203 but was murdered in 1206. After his death his empire in northern India fell apart and passed to his generals, one of whom founded the Delhi Sultanate. The Delhi Sultanate refers to the various Muslim dynasties that ruled in India (1210–1526). It was founded after Muhammad of Ghor defeated Prithvi Raj and captured Delhi in 1192.

Muʿizz al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Sām was one of the founders of Muslim rule in India.Muʿizz al-Dīn’s elder brother, Ghiyāṣ al-Dīn, acquired power east of Herāt in the region of Ghūr (Ghowr, in present Afghanistan) about 1162. Muʿizz al-Dīn always remained his brother’s loyal subordinate. Thus Muʿizz al-Dīn expelled the Oğuz Turkmen nomads from Ghazna (Ghaznī) in 1173 and came as required to his brother’s assistance in his contest with Khwārezm for the lordship of Khorāsān.

After Ghiyāṣ al-Dīn’s death in 1202, the rivalry between the two powers came to a head with Muʿizz al-Dīn’s attack in 1204 on the Khwārezmian capital, Gurganj (in present Uzbekistan). In Hindustan, Muʿizz al-Dīn captured Multān and Uch in 1175 and annexed the Ghaznavid principality of Lahore in 1186. After being defeated by a coalition of Rajput kings at Taraori in 1191, he returned the next year with an army of mounted archers and won a great victory over them on the same field, opening the way for his lieutenants to occupy most of northern India in the years that followed. Muʿizz al-Dīn was assassinated, according to

Muhammad ibn Sa‘udMuhammad ibn Sa‘ud (1727-1765).Founder of the first Sa‘udi state in Najd.His claim to fame rests on his association with the religious reformer Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab.

"Imam" Muhammad ibn Saud is considered the first head of the House of Saud, which is technically named for his father, Saud ibn Muhammed ibn Muqrin. The initial power base was the town of Ad-Dar'iyah, where he met Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, who came to Saud for protection. Ibn Saud granted this, and the two decided to work together to rid the Arabian peninsula of what they saw as innovations (heretics) in the practice of Islam by bringing the religion back to its purest form. They formed an alliance, and this was formalized by the wedding of Ibn Abd-al-Wahhab's daughter to Abdul Aziz, son and successor of Ibn Saud.

Using the ideology of Ibn Al-Wahhab, Ibn Saud helped establish the House of Saud among other tribes in the Arabian peninsula. The use of religion as a basis for legitimacy differentiated the House of Saud from neighboring tribes and built support. Accordingly, Ibn Saud is considered the founder of the First Saudi State. The way he set up his government served as a model for rulers of the House of Saud until the present day. The government was based on Islamic principles and made use of shura. He ruled from 1744 until his death in 1765.

Muhammad ibn Tahir al-HarithiMuhammad ibn Tahir al-Harithi (d. 1188).Prominent figure of the Musta‘li-Tayyibi Isma‘ilis of Yemen.He composed a chrestomathy of Isma‘ili literature, which became a classic.

Muhammad ibn Tughluq was the Turkic Sultan of Delhi from 1325 to 1351. He was the eldest son of Ghiyath al-Din Tughlug. Ghiyath al-din sent the young Muhammad to the Deccan to campaign against king Prataparudra of the Kakatiya dynasty whose capital was at Warangal. Muhammad succeeded to the Delhi throne upon his father's death in 1325.

Muhammad Tughluq was a scholar versed in logic, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy and physical sciences. He had knowledge of medicine and was skillful in dialectics. He was also a calligrapher. Ibn Battuta (Moroccan traveler) visited him during his reign.

Muḥammad ibn Tughluq was the second sultan of the Tughluq dynasty (reigned 1325–51), who briefly extended the rule of the Delhi sultanate of northern India over most of the subcontinent. As a result of misguided administrative actions and unexampled severity toward his opponents, he eventually lost his authority in the south and, at the end of his reign, the sultanate had begun to decline in power.

Muḥammad was the son of the sultan Ghiyās al-Dīn Tughluq. Very little is known of his childhood, but he apparently received a good education. He possessed an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Qurʾān, Muslim jurisprudence, astronomy, logic, philosophy, medicine, and rhetoric. In 1321–22 his father sent him against the city of Warangal in the Deccan, in which campaign, after initial reverses, he subdued the rebellious Hindu rajas. From his accession to the throne in 1325 until his death in 1351, Muḥammad contended with 22 rebellions, pursuing his policies consistently and ruthlessly. Ziyāʾ al-Dīn Baranī, his close companion and counsellor for 17 years, often advised him to abdicate, but Muḥammad disdainfully rejected his advice.

As his reign began, Muḥammad attempted, without much success, to enlist the services of the ʿulamāʾ, the Muslim clergy, and the Ṣūfīs, the ascetic mystics. Failing to win the ʿulamāʾ over, he tried to curtail their powers, as some of his predecessors had, by placing them on an equal footing with other citizens. The Sultan wanted to use the Ṣūfīs’ prestigious position to stabilize his authority as ruler. Yet they had always refused any association with government and would not accept any grants or offices except under duress. Muḥammad tried every measure, conciliatory or coercive, to yoke them to his political wagon. Although he humiliated them, he could not break their opposition and succeeded only in dispersing them from the towns of northern India.

In the four pages of his autobiography, Muḥammad’s only surviving literary work, he confesses that he had wavered from traditional orthodoxy to philosophic doubts and then found his way to a rational faith. To still his own doubts, as well as to counteract the opposition of the Muslim clergy, he obtained from the caliph in Cairo a manshūr (patent of royalty) legitimizing his authority.

The transfer of the capital in 1327 to Deogir (now Daulatabad) was intended to consolidate the conquests in southern India by large-scale—in some cases forced—migration of the people of Delhi to Deogir. As an administrative measure it failed, but it had far-reaching cultural effects. The spread of the Urdu language in the Deccan may be traced to this extensive influx of Muslims. He introduced several reforms in the monetary system, and his coins, in design as well as in workmanship and purity of metal, excelled those of his predecessors. His introduction of token currency, coins of baser metal with the face value of silver coins, however, failed dismally.

A projected Khorāsān expedition (1327–28) that never materialized was intended to secure more defensible frontiers in the west. The Karajil (Garhwal-Kumaon) expedition (1329–30), an attempt to adjust the boundary dispute with the northern hill states then dominated by China, ended in disaster, but it was followed by an exchange of emissaries between China and Delhi. The conquest of Nagarkot in the foothills of the Himalayas in northwestern India was based on Muḥammad’s policy of establishing secure frontiers.

Between 1328 and 1329 the Sultan increased the land tax in the Doab—the land between the Ganges (Ganga) and Yamuna rivers—but the taxpayers resisted it, especially because a severe drought coincided. Muḥammad was the first ruler to introduce rotation of crops, establish state farms, and tend cultivation and improve artificial irrigation by establishing a department of agriculture. When famine broke out in northern India (1338–40), he moved his residence to Swargdawari to supervise famine relief measures himself.

Muḥammad’s last expedition, against the rebel Ṭaghī, ended with his death at Sonda in Sindh in 1351. He died with a smile on his face and verses of his own composition on his lips. In the words of a contemporary, “the Sultan was rid of the people and the people of the Sultan.”

Muḥammad was among the most controversial and enigmatic figures of the 14th century. A dauntless soldier, he was tolerant in religion and was normally humane and humble, but these traits were vitiated at times by cruelty sometimes approaching the inhuman. He lived in constant conflict between faith and action, faith in the correctness of his policies and action in the means by which he sought to implement them. A born revolutionary, he desired to create a more equitable social order by making Islam a religion of service rather than a means of exploitation. This end, he believed, could be achieved only by a strong centralized authority based on justice and patronage of the poor, the learned, and the pious and on the suppression of rebellions mainly of the privileged classes in a tradition-ridden society.

All contemporary historians based their assessment of Muḥammad on his administrative measures, which were neither vicious nor visionary. They failed because of the harshness of the Sultan in executing them, the challenge they posed to the privileged classes, the general lethargy and conservatism of his subjects, and the expansion of the empire with which Muḥammad’s administrative machinery could not cope.

Idris Muhammad (Arabic:إدريس محمد‎; born Leo Morris; November 13, 1939 – July 29, 2014) was an American jazz drummer who recorded extensively with many musicians, including Ahmad Jamal, Lou Donaldson, and Pharoah Sanders, among many others.

At 16 years old, one of Muhammad's earliest recorded sessions as a drummer was on Fats Domino's 1956 hit "Blueberry Hill". He changed his name in the 1960s upon his conversion to Islam. In 1966, he married Dolores "LaLa" Brooks, former member of the singing group known as the Crystals. Brooks converted to Islam with Muhammad and went for a time under the name Sakinah Muhammad. They separated in 1999. Together, they had two sons and two daughters, and Muhammad had one daughter from a previous marriage to Gracie Lee Edwards-Morris. Pharoah Sanders's son Idris is named after Idris Muhammad

Muhammad was an endorser of Istanbul Agop Cymbals.

In 2012, Xlibris released the book Inside The Music: The Life of Idris Muhammad, which Muhammad wrote with his friend Britt Alexander.He died on July 29, 2014.The principal discography of Idris Muhammad reads as follows:

1970: Black Rhythm Revolution! (Prestige)

1971: Peace and Rhythm (Prestige)

1974: Power of Soul (Kudu)

1976: House of the Rising Sun (Kudu)

1977: Turn This Mutha Out (Kudu)

1977: Could Heaven Ever Be Like This

1978: Boogie to the Top

1978: You Ain't No Friend of Mine

1979: Fox Huntin'

1980: Kabsha (Theresa Records)

1980: Make It Count

1992: My Turn

1998: Right Now

MuhammadiyahMuhammadiyah (Persyarikatan Muhammadiyah). Mission minded Indonesian social and educational organization for Muslims adhering to reformist teachings.Founded in Yogyakarta,Java, in 1912 by Kyai Haji Ahmad Dahlan (1868-1923), Muhammadiyah grew rapidly in the politicized atmospher of the late Dutch colonial period in Indonesia.By 1983, it had achieved a membership of some 250,000. Muhammadiyah has been the dominating organizational force among modernist Muslims in Indonesia since the mid-1920s.It avoids overt political activity and concentrates instead upon its fundamentally social and religious mission, which it promotes through its nationwide branches and its network of schools, mosques, libraries, hospitals, clinics, and welfare institutions.

Muhammadiyah (full name: Persyarikatan Muhammadiyah) is an Islamic organization in Indonesia. Muhammadiyah, literally means "followers of Muhammad" (from Arabic). The organization was founded in 1912 by Ahmad Dahlan in the city of Yogyakarta as a reformist socio-religious movement, advocating ijtihad - individual interpretation of Qur'an and sunnah, as opposed to taqlid - the acceptance of the traditional interpretations propounded by the ulama.

Muhammadiyah was chiefly inspired by an Egyptian reform movement, led by Muḥammad ʿAbduh, that had tried to bring the Muslim faith into harmony with modern rational thought. The Muhammadiyah advocated the abolition of all superstitious customs, mostly relics of pre-Islāmic times, and the loosening of the stiff traditional bonds that tended to strangle modern cultural life. To achieve these aims, the Muhammadiyah employed many methods of the Christian missionaries. It established schools along modern lines, where Western subjects (including Dutch) as well as religion were taught. It set up orphanages, hospitals, and other social services. By the 1920s, the Muhammadiyah was the dominant force in Indonesian Islām and the most effective organization in the country.

The Muhammadiyah was willing to cooperate with the Dutch colonial government, and its schools were qualified to receive government financial assistance. It was therefore criticized by radical Indonesian nationalists, who had adopted a non-cooperation policy toward the Dutch authorities. The membership of the Muhammadiyah increased steadily, however, and by 1937 there were 913 branches, although more than half of them were in the outer islands. The Muhammadiyah was paralyzed by the Japanese occupation during World War II and never fully recovered afterward.

Today, the Muhammadiyah is the second largest Islamic organization in Indonesia. Although Muhammadiyah leaders and members are often actively involved in shaping the politics in Indonesia, the Muhammadiyah is not a political party. It has devoted itself to social and educational activities.

Persyarikatan Muhammadiyah see Muhammadiyah

MuhammadiyyaMuhammadiyya.Term denoting four distinct ‘Alid groups: (1) the descendants of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya; (2) the believers in the Mahdiship of Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, who are divided into the extremist Mansuriyya and the Mughiriyya; (3) the believers in the Imamate of Abu Ja‘far Muhammad, son of the tenth Imam al-‘Askari; (4) the believers in the divinity of the Prophet, also called Mimiyya.

Muhammad ‘Izzat DarwazaMuhammad ‘Izzat Darwaza (Darwazeh) (1888-1984).Advocate of Arab nationalism in Palestine.He was a close associate of Amin al-Husayni and a prolific author.

Muhammad 'Izzat Darwaza was a Palestinian politician, historian, and educator from Nablus. Early in his career, he worked as an Ottoman bureaucrat in Palestine and Lebanon. Darwaza had long been a sympathizer of Arab nationalism and became an activist of that cause following the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire in 1916, joining the nationalist al-Fatat society. As such, he campaigned for the union of Greater Syria (modern-day Levant) and vehemently opposed Zionism and foreign mandates in Arab lands. From 1922 to 1927, he served as an educator and as the principal at the an-Najah National School where he implemented a pro-Arab nationalist educational system, promoting the ideals of Arab independence and unity. Darwaza's particular brand of Arab nationalism was influenced by Islam and his belief in Arab unity and in the oneness of Arabic culture.

Later, Darwaza founded the nationalist Istiqlal party in Palestine and was a primary organizer of anti-British demonstrations. In 1937, he was exiled to Damascus as a result of his activities and from there he helped support the Arab revolt in the British Mandate of Palestine. He was incarcerated in Damascus by French authorities for his involvement in the revolt, and while in prison he began to study the Qur'an and its interpretations. In 1945, after he was released, Darwaza eventually compiled his own interpretation entitled al-Tafsir al-Hadith.

In 1946, he joined the Arab Higher Committee led by Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, but resigned the next year after being disenfranchised by al-Husayni's methods. He left for Syria afterward and briefly aided in the unity talks between Syria and Egypt in the mid-1950s. By the time of his death in 1984, Darwaza had written over thirty books and published numerous articles on the Palestinian question, Arab history, and Islam.

Muhammad KabaMuhammad Kaba.African born slave who, around 1825, was settled on a plantation located in Manchester Parish, Jamaica.As a leader of an Islamic group in the area, he received an official letter sent by the African king Abu Bakr, a prominent imam, exhorting the Muslim community to be true and faithful if they wished to go to Heaven.Kaba, Muhammad see Muhammad Kaba.

Muhammad KatiMuhammad Kati (1468-1593?).Chronicler of the Sudanic empires.He was a Soninke (Serekole) Muslim judge in Timbuktu during the reign of the Songhay king Askia Muhammad Ture whom he is said to have accompanied on a pilgrimage to Mecca.He has long been considered the primary author of Ta’rikh al-Fattash, an important chronicle of the Sudanic empires up to 1599, which emphasized the history of Songhay.His sons continued the chronicle, and it was completed by a grandson, Ibn al-Mukhtar, around 1665.Modern scholarship has challenged both Muhammad Kati’s death date of 1593 -- which would have made him 125 -- and his contribution to the Ta’rikh.Kati, Muhammad see Muhammad Kati

Muhammad MurtadaMuhammad Murtada (1732-1791).Arabic lexicographer.He owes his fame to commentaries on al-Firuzabadi’s dictionary and on al-Ghazali’s The Revival of Religious Sciences.Murtada, Muhammad see Muhammad Murtada

Muhammad Omar

Muhammad (Mohammad) Omar, also called Mullah Omar (born c. 1950–62?, near Kandahār, Afghanistan—died April, 2013, Pakistan), Afghan militant and leader of the Taliban (Pashto: Ṭālebān [“Students”]) who was the emir of Afghanistan (1996–2001). Mullah Omar’s refusal to extradite al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden prompted the United States invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 that overthrew the Taliban government there.

Biographical details about Mullah Omar are sparse and conflicting. He was an ethnic Pashtun of the Ghilzay branch who, reportedly, was born near Kandahar, Afghanistan. He is believed to have been illiterate and — aside from his madrasah studies — to have had minimal schooling. He fought with the mujahideen against the Soviets during the Afghan War (1978–92), and during that time he suffered the loss of his right eye in an explosion.

After the Soviet withdrawal, Mullah Omar established and taught at a small village madrasah in the province of Kandahār. The end of the war did not bring calm, however, and political and ethnic violence escalated thereafter. Claiming to have had a vision instructing him to restore peace, Mullah Omar led a group of madrasah students in the takeover of cities throughout the mid-1990s, including Kandahar, Herat, Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif. In 1996 a shura (council) recognized Mullah Omar as amīr al-muʾminīn(“commander of the faithful”), a deeply significant title in the Muslim world that had been in disuse since the abolition of the caliphate in 1924. That designation also made him emir of Afghanistan, which from October 1997 until the fall of the Taliban was known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Mullah Omar marked the occasion by removing what was held to be the cloak of the Prophet Muhammad from the mosque in Kandahār where it was housed and donning the relic, effectively symbolizing himself as Muhammad’s successor. The swift takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban under Mullah Omar is believed to have been funded at least in part by bin Laden, who had moved his base to Afghanistan after his expulsion from Sudan in the mid-1990s.

Under Mullah Omar’s leadership, Pashtun social codes were paramount, and strict Islamic principles were enforced. Education and employment for women all but ceased; capital punishment was enacted for transgressions such as adultery and conversion away from Islam; and music, television, and other forms of popular entertainment were prohibited. Among his most-infamous decisions was an order to demolish the colossal Buddha statues at Bamiyan, culturally significant relics of Afghanistan’s pre-Islamic history. To the outspoken regret of the international community, they were destroyed in 2001.

In the wake of al-Qaeda’s, September 11, 2001, attacks on New York City and Washington, D. C., Mullah Omar’s refusal to extradite bin Laden prompted the United States to launch a series of military operations in Afghanistan. The Taliban government was overthrown, and Mullah Omar fled; his location was undetermined.

Mullah Omar was long notoriously reclusive. Meetings with non-Muslims or with Westerners were almost never granted, and it was unclear whether any of the photographs that purportedly depict him were authentic—circumstances that made the pursuit of him even more difficult. At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, it was believed that Mullah Omar continued to direct Taliban operations from the sanctuary of Pakistan, although the Taliban denied that supposition.

On July 29, 2015, the Afghan government announced that its intelligence service had learned that Mullah Omar had died in April 2013 in Pakistan. The report of Mullah Omar’s death was confirmed by a Taliban representative the next day, and his deputy, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, was announced as his successor.

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi was the shah of Iran from 1941 to 1979 known for maintaining a pro-Western foreign policy and fostering economic development in Iran.

Mohammad Reza was the eldest son of Reza Shah Pahlavi, an army officer who became the ruler of Iran and founder of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1925. Mohammad Reza was educated in Switzerland and returned to Iran in 1935. In 1941 the Soviet Union and Great Britain, fearing that the shah would cooperate with Nazi Germany to rid himself of their tutelage, occupied Iran and forced Reza Shah into exile. Mohammad Reza then replaced his father on the throne (September 16, 1941).

In the early 1950s a struggle for control of the Iranian government developed between the shah and Mohammad Mosaddeq, a zealous Iranian nationalist. In March 1951, Mosaddeq secured passage of a bill in the Majles (parliament) to nationalize the vast British petroleum interests in Iran. Mosaddeq’s power grew rapidly, and by the end of April Mohammad Reza had been forced to appoint Mosaddeq premier. A two-year period of tension and conflict followed. In August 1953, the shah tried to dismiss Mosaddeq but was himself forced to leave the country by Mosaddeq’s supporters. Several days later, however, Mosaddeq’s opponents, with the covert support and assistance of the United States, restored Mohammad Reza to power.

The shah reversed Mosaddeq’s nationalization. With United States assistance, he then proceeded to carry out a national development program, called the White Revolution, that included construction of an expanded road, rail, and air network, a number of dam and irrigation projects, the eradication of diseases such as malaria, the encouragement and support of industrial growth, and land reform. He also established a literacy corps and a health corps for the large but isolated rural population. In the 1960s and ’70s the shah sought to develop a more independent foreign policy and established working relationships with the Soviet Union and eastern European nations.

The White Revolution solidified domestic support for the shah, but he faced continuing political criticism from those who felt that the reforms did not move far or fast enough and religious criticism from those who believed westernization to be antithetical to Islam. Opposition to the shah himself was based upon his autocratic rule, corruption in his government, the unequal distribution of oil wealth, forced westernization, and the activities of Savak (the secret police) in suppressing dissent and opposition to his rule. These negative aspects of the shah’s rule became markedly accentuated after Iran began to reap greater revenues from its petroleum exports beginning in 1973. Widespread dissatisfaction among the lower classes, the Shīʿite clergy, the bazaar merchants, and students led in 1978 to the growth of support for the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shīʿite religious leader living in exile in Paris. Rioting and turmoil in Iran’s major cities brought down four successive governments. On January 16, 1979, the shah left the country, and Khomeini assumed control. Although the shah did not abdicate, a referendum resulted in the declaration on April 1, 1979, of an Islamic republic in Iran. The shah traveled to Egypt, Morocco, the Bahamas, and Mexico before entering the United States on October 22, 1979, for medical treatment of lymphatic cancer. Two weeks later Iranian militants seized the U.S. embassy in Tehrān and took hostage more than 50 Americans, demanding the extradition of the shah in return for the hostages’ release. Extradition was refused, but the shah later left for Panama and then Cairo, where he was granted asylum by President Anwar el-Sadat.

The Shah returned to Egypt in March 1980, where he received urgent medical treatment but nevertheless died from complications of non-Hodgkin lymphoma on July 27, 1980. Egyptian President Sadat gave the Shah a state funeral.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi is buried in the Al Rifa'i Mosque in Cairo, a mosque of great symbolic importance. The last royal rulers of two monarchies are buried there, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran and King Farouk of Egypt, his former brother-in-law. The tombs lie off to the left of the entrance. Years earlier, his father and predecessor, Reza Shah Pahlavi had also initially been buried at the Al Rifa'i Mosque.

The shah had two marriages that ended in divorce when they failed to produce a male heir to the throne. In October 1960 a third wife, Farah Diba, gave birth to the crown prince, Reza.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi married his third and final wife, Farah Diba (b. October 14, 1938), the only child of Sohrab Diba, Captain in the Imperial Iranian Army, and his wife, the former Farideh Ghotbi. They were married in 1959, and Queen Farah was crowned Shahbanu, or Empress, a title created especially for her in 1967. Previous royal consorts had been known as "Malakeh" (Arabic: Malika), or Queen. The couple remained together for twenty years, until the Shah's death. Farah Diba bore him four children:

Muhammad RumfaMuhammad Rumfa (d. 1499).Ruler of the Hausa city-state of Kano (r. 1463-1499).He is considered Kano’s greatest ruler.He revitalized Islam, which had been introduced a century before, and developed Kano into a center of Islamic learning.The disintegration of the old Mali Empire in the west seems to have provided Kano with many refugee scholars.Kano also attracted some important North African scholars, notably al-Maghili (d. 1504), author of The Obligations of Princes, which Muhammad commissioned.During Muhammad’s reign, the first of a series of wars with neighboring Katsina took place.

Muhammad Rumfa was Emir of the Hausa city-state Kano, located in modern-day Kano State, northern Nigeria. He reigned from 1463 until 1499. Among Rumfa's accomplishments were extending the city walls, building a large palace, the Gidan Rumfa, promoting slaves to governmental positions and establishing the Kurmi Market. He was also responsible for much of the Islamization of Kano, as he urged prominent residents to convert.

Muhammad ShahMuhammad Shah (Mohammad Shah Qajar) (Mohammad Mirza) (January 5, 1808 - September 5, 1848). Shah of Persia from the Qajar dynasty (23 October 1834 - 5 September 1848).During his reign, tribal disturbances and outbreaks of religious unrest dominated internal affairs.Persia’s foreign relations were dominated by fear and resentment of both Russia and Britain, and Perso-Turkish relations were in a state of tension.

Mohammad Shah was son of Abbas Mirza, the crown prince and governor of Azerbaijan, who in turn was the son of Fat′h Ali Shah Qajar, the second Shah of the dynasty. At first, Abbas Mirza was the chosen heir to the Shah. However, after he died, the Shah chose Mohammad to be his heir. After the Shah's death, Ali Mirza, one of his many sons, tried to take the throne in opposition to Mohammad. His rule lasted for about 40 days. Nonetheless, he was quickly deposed at the hands of Mirza Abolghasem Ghaem Magham Farahani, a politician, scientist, and poet.

Ali was forgiven by Mohammad, who had then become Shah. Farahani was awarded the position of chancellorship of Persia by Shah Mohammad at the time of his inauguration. He was later betrayed and executed by the order of Shah in 1835, at the instigation of Hajj Mirza Aghasi, who would become the Ghaem Magham's successor and who greatly influenced the Shah's policies. One of his wives, Malek Jahan Khanom, Mahd-e Olia, later became a significant influence on his successor, who was their son.

Mohammad also tried twice to capture Herat, which was then owned by the British. To try to defeat the British, he sent an officer to the court of Louis-Philippe of France. In 1839, two French military instructors arrived at Tabriz to aid him. However, both attempts to capture the city were unsuccessful.

Shah Mohammad was known to be somewhat sickly throughout his life, and he finally died at the age of 40 of gout.

Shah Mohammad fell under the influence of Russia and attempted to make reforms to modernize and increase contact with the West. This work was continued by his successor, Nasser-al-Din Shah Qajar, who became known as a very capable leader. These efforts to modernize the country brought about a great interest in photography. Other artwork during this time includes a number of small-scale paintings on lacquer.

During Shah Mohammad's reign, the religious movement of Bábism began to flourish for the first time. Following his death, the Bab, Baha'u'llahs forerunner was executed in Tabriz. The Persian symbol of the Lion and Sun and a red, white, and green background became the flag at this time.

During his reign, Shah Mohammad had 20 children by eight wives, and four more wives with whom he had no children. Seven of his children died in infancy, but among the more notable of the children were:

Muhammadu BelloMuhammadu Bello (Muhammad Bello) (1781-1837). West African “Commander of the Believers” of the Sokoto Caliphate in northwestern Nigeria (r.1817-1837).

Muhammadu was the son of the Shaykh ‘Uthman dan Fodio (Usman dan Fodio), who commenced the Fula revolution against the Hausa.In 1804, when he was only about twenty-three years old, he became commander of one of ‘Uthman’s armies, and proved a highly competent field commander.In 1812, with most of the fighting over, ‘Uthman divided the conquered territories between his brother ‘Abdullah and Muhammadu, and retired from day-to-day administration of the empire.Emirs were appointed to rule the provinces.

Muhammadu constructed the new capital for the caliphate at Sokoto.His father died in 1817 without naming a successor, since, according to Islamic law, leaders were to be elected.‘Abdullah was away from Sokoto at the time, and returned to find himself barred by Muhammadu’s supporters from entering the city.Muhammadu assumed power without a violent struggle, however, and in later years he and his uncle ‘Abdullah, were reconciled.

Muhammadu took the title Sultan of Sokoto.His main concerns were external threats and internal revolts.He led his army in battle some forty times.To protect the new empire, he constructed a border defence network.Until the mid-1820s, the primary external threat was the empire of Bornu to the east.Bornu had been save from Fula conquest al-Kanemi, who afterwards began to counterattack Sokoto.The Fula eventually settled for control of western Bornu.It was because of these wars that Muhammadu Bello restricted the itinerary of British explorer Hugh Clapperton who visited Sokoto in 1824 and again in 1827, dying there.

Muhammadu Bello proved to be as capable an administrator as he was a soldier.Emphasizing equal education and impartial justice, he reduced some of the tension between Hausa and Fula.Like his father, he was a scholar, and wrote a number of books including a history of the Sudan.He was an early ally and father-in-law of the Tukolor jihad leader, ‘al-Hajj ‘Umar.At his death, he was succeeded by his brother, Abubakar Atiku (r. 1837-1842).

Muhammadu Bello is also remembered for writing a considerable number of works in Arabic, among them a history of Sokoto.

Muhammad, Wallace DeenMuhammad, Wallace Deen (Wallace Deen Muhammad) (Warith Deen Muhammad) (Warith Deen Mohammed) (October 30, 1933 - September 9, 2008).Self-taught spiritual leader of the Muslim American Society.He was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Elijah and Clara Muhammad.He succeeded his father as the Leader of the Nation of Islam and is credited with working to reform the group and bringing thousands of African Americans into mainstream Islam.Unlike his father, Wallace Muhammad became a highly respected leader in both Muslim and non-Muslim communities.His effort to create dialogue between Christians, Jews, and Muslims afforded him national and international recognition.In 1992, Wallace Muhammad became the first Muslim to deliver an invocation at the United States Senate.He is the author of several books such as Prayer and Al-Islam, Islam’s Climate for Business Success, and Al-Islam, Unity and Leadership.

Wallace Deen Muhammad was born in Detroit and was said to be his father's favorite of his seven children.He was named after Wallace D. Fard, who according to Black Muslim lore had predicted his birth and his eventual succession to leadership.Wallace Deen Muhammad grew up on the South Side of Chicago, where he attended religious school taught by immigrants from places like Jordan and Egypt.He learned to read Arabic and later studied English, history and the social sciences at two Chicago area junior colleges.

In 1961, Wallace Deen Muhammad refused the military draft and was sentenced to three years in prison.While incarcerated, he began to notice contradictions in Nation of Islam theology.That led to the ideological rift with his father.

The father of Wallace Deen Muhammad, Elijah Muhammad, was the leader of the Nation of Islam -- the Black Muslims --, an organization that advocated a form of Black nationalism.Elijah Muhammad led the Nation of Islam from 1934 until his death on February 26, 1975.After his death, Wallace Deen Muhammad was accepted by the Nation of Islam as its leader.

Wallace Deen Muhammad emerged from the cauldron of religious politics and internal rivalry that characterized the Black Muslims, as the Nation of Islam members were called, in the 1960s and 1970s.Following Malcolm X, who was drifting away from black separatism toward traditional Islam when he was assassinated in 1965, Warith Deen Mohammed increasingly favored a non-racial approach to religion, without categorizing Europeans and European Americans as devils, as Elijah Muhammad had.Indeed, Elijah Muhammad ex-communicated Wallace Deen Muhammad several times for his dissidence.

Nevertheless, Wallace Deen Muhammad was unanimously elected supreme minister of the Nation of Islam after his father's death in 1975.He subsequently pushed his followers toward a more orthodox faith, emphasizing study of the Qur'an and the five duties of a Muslim: faith, charity, prayer five times a day, fasting during Ramadan and pilgrimage to Mecca.A major change was rejecting the divinity of the founder of the Nation of Islam, Wallace D. Fard; a lesser one was relaxing the religion's strict dress code.

He introduced many reforms intended to bring the organization closer to traditional Islam, and renamed it a number of times.He rejected literal interpretations of his father's theology and Black-separatist views.On the basis of his lifelong study of the Qur'an and the life of the Prophet Muhammad, he accepted Europeans and European Americans as fellow worshipers and attempted to forge closer ties with mainstream Muslim communities, including Latino Muslims.He also changed the spelling of his own name from Wallace Deen Muhammad to Warith Deen Mohammed.

In 1976, Warith Deen Mohammed dropped the Nation of Islam name in favor of the World Community of al-Islam in the West.Warith Deen Mohammed also adopted the title of imam.

Two years later, Imam Mohammed changed the name of his organization to the American Muslim Mission.Later, he encouraged each mosque to be independent under the leadership of the Muslim American Society, or the Ministry of Warith Deen Mohammed.

A number of dissident groups resisted the changes in the Nation of Islam, most notably those who followed Louis Farrakhan in breaking ranks with Wallace and reviving the name "Nation of Islam" in 1981.

Warith Deen Mohammed continued to move decisively toward the religious mainstream.In 1992, he gave the first ever invocation by a Muslim in the United States Senate.In 1993, he gave an Islamic prayer during the first Inaugural Interfaith Prayer Service of President Bill Clinton, and again in 1997 at the second Inaugural Interfaith Prayer Service.He addressed a conference of Muslims and Reform Jews in 1995, and participated in several major interfaith dialogues with Roman Catholic cardinals.He met with the pope in 1996 and 1999.

Imam Mohammed worked to bring American Muslims into the world's largest Islamic orthodoxy, the Sunni branch.He met privately with Arab leaders like President Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt and received a contribution of $16 million from a sultan in the United Arab Emirates.

Marking 70 years since the founding of the Nation of Islam, in 2000, Warith Deen Mohammed and Louis Farrakhan publicly embraced, and declared unity and reconciliation, at the annual Savior's Day convention.

Imam Mohammed continued the business enterprises long favored by Black Muslims, including importing clothing, real estate development and developing skin care products.He also kept social services like improving access to health care and helping convicts after their release.Warith Deen Mohammed died on September 9, 2008 in Chicago, Illinois.Wallace Deen Muhammad see Muhammad, Wallace DeenWarith Deen Muhammad see Muhammad, Wallace DeenMohammed, Warith Deen see Muhammad, Wallace DeenWarith Deen Mohammed see Muhammad, Wallace DeenImam Mohammed see Muhammad, Wallace Deen

Muhammed AbduhMuhammed Abduh.See Muhammad Abduh.

Muhammed, MurtalaMuhammed, Murtala (Murtala Muhammed) (Murtala Ramat Mohammed) (b. November 8, 1938 – d. February 13, 1976). Nigerian head of state (1975-1976).A northerner from a family of eleven children, Muhammed was born in Kano and educated in primary schools there.He received his school certificate at the Government College in Zaria in 1957 and joined the Nigerian army, which sent him to Sandhurst in England for officer training.Returning to Nigeria in 1961 as a second lieutenant, he was shortly afterward posted to the United Nations peace-keeping forces in the Congo (Zaire), where he spent a year.In 1964, he was promoted to major.

The 1966 coup that ended civilian rule in Nigeria was led largely by Ibo army officers.The new military government attempted to restore national unity, and head of state Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi advanced Muhammed to the rank of lieutenant-colonel.However, ethnic tensions increased, and in the same year Muhammed was among the group of northern officers who ousted Aguiyi-Ironsi in favor of Colonel Yakubu Gowon.

During the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970) Muhammed led an infantry division against rebel Ibo forces.He was promoted to brigadier in 1971 and three years later became federal commissioner for communications, his first non-military assignment.

Although Gowon held the Nigerian union together, his administration was unable to salvage the credibility of his government, as Nigeria’s post-war ethnic cleavages and administrative problems grew out of control.In 1975, Muhammed joined a group of senior officers in deposing Gowon in a bloodless coup.Muhammed was appointed head of state.

Muhammed excited the population with bold measures to combat Nigeria’s most serious problems.Addressing government inefficiency and corruption, he forced the retirement or dismissal of some 10,000 civil servants and soldiers.Some of Gowon’s most unpopular policies were reversed, and the overriding issue of federal organization was tackled head-on when Nigeria’s twelve states were reorganized into nineteen.As a symbolic measure, Muhammed made plans to move the federal capital from Lagos to Abuja, in central Nigeria.Popular elections were scheduled for 1979.The result of these actions was a rapid and dramatic restoration of public confidence in government.

Muhammed was assassinated in an unsuccessful coup attempt in 1976.Remembered for his courage and devotion to the national government, he became a symbol of Nigeria’s new national unity.He was succeeded by his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Olusegun Obasanjo.

al-Muhasibi, Abu ‘Abd Allah al- (Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Muhasibi) (Abu Abdullah Harith bin Asad al-Basri)(781-857).Muslim mystic.His Book of observance of the rights of God is meant to enable believers to find the way of life in which they could render to God the service which is God’s due.Of another work, presented as a vision of the last things, it has been said that it is a “Dies Irae” which ends up in an “In Paradisum.”

Al-Muhasibi was the founder of the Baghdad School of Islamic philosophy, and a teacher of the Sufi masters Junayd al-Baghdadi and Sari al-Saqti.

His full name is Abu Abdullah Harith bin Asad al-Basri. He was born in Basra in 781. Muhasibi means self-inspection/audit. It was his characteristic attribute. He was a founder of Sufi doctrine, and influenced many subsequent theologians, such as al-Ghazali.

He wrote many books about theology and Tasawwuf (Sufism), among them Kitab al-Khalwa and Kitab al-Ri`aya li-huquq Allah ("Guarding God's Rights").

Muhibbi, al-Muhibbi, al-.Name of a family of scholars and jurists in Damascus in the sixteenth through seventeenth centuries of which three members distinguished themselves in literature: Muhibb al-Din Abu’l-Fadl (1542-1608); his grandson Fadl Allah (1621-1671); the latter’s son Muhammad al-Amin (1651-1699).Muhammad’s principal work is a collection of biographies of scholars, poets etc. of his time and the period immediately preceding it.

MuhtasibMuhtasib.Muslim market inspector.The muhtasib was the official entrusted with ensuring that individuals complied with the requirements of the codes of behavior and the law in their public dealings.

A holder of the office of al-hisbah, an executive function falling roughly between the offices of qadi (judge) and wali al-mazalim (mazalim -- court magistrate), the muhtasib was charged with enforcing public morality, overseeing the public welfare, and supervising the markets, fulfilling thereby the community’s collective obligation to command the good and forbid evil (al-amr bi-al-ma‘ruf wa-al-nahy ‘an al-munkar).The muhtasib had no jurisdiction to hear legal cases per se but only to settle common disputes and well-known breaches of the law in which the facts were obvious of where there was an admission of guilt.He was also vested with certain discretionary powers through which he could intervene in such matters as commercial fraud and public nuisances.In addition, he could levy discretionary punishments (ta‘zir) up to but not equaling the prescribed shari‘a penalties (hudud) for such indiscretions as private intermingling of the sexes or abuse of pack animals.

Early manuals on al-hisbah lay out precise (and extremely broad) jurisdictional boundaries.According to Ibn Taymiyah (d. 1328), however, the muhtasib’s actual function was determined in large part by the time and place in which he operated as well as local custom and the political agenda of the particular under whom he served.What belonged to the police (shurtah) or to the courts in one place could fall under the jurisdiction of the muhtasib in another.Prominent scholars and jurists are known to have held the office, but it was also known to have been occupied by merchants and other persons of suprisingly little legal training.

Later sources reflect a gradual evolution in the muhtasib’s function from matters connected with public morality to a more restricted emphasis on policing the markets and overseeing the activities of merchants and artisans.In this capacity, in addition to his traditional duties of standardizing and inspecting weights and measures, the muhtasib was often called on to collect certain taxes, for example, import and export duties, or to impose penalties on artisans and other guild-members found in violation.

By the nineteenth century, the office of the muhtasib had all but disappeared in most parts of the Muslim world, its many functions being redistributed among various modern, secular jurisdictions.The Ottomans formally abolished the office in Istanbul in 1854 and it appears also to have disappeared in Persia around the same time.In the Indian subcontinent, the office had been in steady decline since the sixteenth century and enjoyed only a brief but futile revival under the Mughal ruler, Awrangzib.Little is known about the impact of colonial rule on the office of the muhtasib.

There remains today a few possible vestiges of the medieval office of the muhtasib in certain parts of the Islamic world.In Morocco, for example, the ra’is al-masalih al-iqtisadiyah (chief of economic welfare), appears to be a possible descendent of his intrusive tendencies, had acquired the nickname, al-fuduli (busybody).The nizam-al-tilbah (system of appropriations) or halaqat al-‘azabiyah (discipline corps) found among certain Ibadi communities in Algeria might also be considered a modern descendant of al-hisbah.

A muḥtasib was a supervisor of bazaars and trade in the medieval Islamic countries. His duty was to ensure that public business was conducted in accordance with the law of sharia. In the reign of the Sultan Barqūq, for example, the duties of the muḥtasib of Cairo included "the regulation of weights, money, prices, public morals, and the cleanliness of public places, as well as the supervision of schools, instruction, teachers, and students, and attention to public baths, general public safety, and the circulation of traffic." In addition, craftsmen and builders were usually responsible to the muhtasib for the standards of their craft.

A muḥtasib often relied on manuals called ḥisba, which were written specifically for instruction and guidance in his duties; they contained practical advice on management of the marketplace, as well as other things a muhtasib needed to know -- for example, manufacturing and construction standards.

Among the Tatars of the Russian Empire the möxtäsip was a Muslim functionary expected to keep vigilant watch on the execution of the sharia. In 1920s, after the October Revolution and ban on religion, their service was abolished. Since the 1990s they have been re-established, but play only a religious role, as the sharia has no official role among Muslims of the Russian Federation.

Muhyi‘l-Din LariMuhyi‘l-Din Lari (d. 1526).Persian writer.He is the author of a famous poetical description of the Holy Cities Mecca and Medina.Lari, Muhyi'l-Din see Muhyi‘l-Din Lari

Muhyi‘l-Din MehmedMuhyi‘l-Din Mehmed (Molla Celebi) (d. 1550).Turkish theologian and historian.He edited the anonymous Ottoman chronicles, which run from the beginnings of the Ottoman Empire and were continued by him down to 1549.Mehmed, Muhyi'l-Din see Muhyi‘l-Din MehmedMolla Celebi see Muhyi‘l-Din MehmedCelebi, Molla see Muhyi‘l-Din Mehmed

Mu‘in al-Din Sulayman ParwanaMu‘in al-Din Sulayman Parwana (d. 1277).De facto ruler of the Saljuq state of Rum in Anatolia during most of the Mongol Protectorate.Of Persian stock, he attempted to maintain stability both amongst the Turkish emirs and between them and the ever-increasing number of Mongols resident on Anatolian soil.He is said to have enjoyed a close relationship with Jalal al-Din Rumi.Parwana, Mu'in al-Din Sulayman see Mu‘in al-Din Sulayman Parwana

Mu‘izz al-Dawla, Abu’l-Husayn AhmadMu‘izz al-Dawla, Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad (Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad Mu‘izz al-Dawla) (915 - April 8, 967).Founder of the Buyid rule in Baghdad (r. 945-967).Appointed supreme amir by the ‘Abbasid caliph al-Muti’, he made the latter the instrument of his policy.He had to defend himself against the Hamdanids of Mosul and against the Daylami mercenaries, who had helped the Buyids to build their power.He began to rely more and more on Turkish mercenaries and distributed leases without any financial return, which was to become a characteristic of Buyid financial policy.

Ahmad was the first of the Buwayhid (Buyid) emirs of Iraq, ruling from 945 until his death. He was the son of Buya.

During the Buwayhid conquest of Fars, Ahmad distinguished himself in battle. In 935 or 936, Ahmad's oldest brother 'Ali sent Ahmad to Kerman with the task of conquering that province from the Banu Ilyas. He overran much of Kerman, but encountered resistance from the Baluchis and Arab Qafs, receiving a wound to the head and losing a hand and several fingers on the other. Direct Buyid control over Kerman was not established, resulting in 'Ali's recall of Ahmad. The latter was then sent to Istakhr to await further orders.

Ahmad's next opportunity to expand the possessions of the Buyids came when the Baridis requested help from 'Ali. The Baridis, who ruled in Khuzestan, were nominally subordinate to the Caliphate, but were attempting to establish their independence. Ahmad was sent by 'Ali to the area. He succeeded in uprooting the authority of the Baridis and taking control of that province. From Khuzestan he launched several campaigns into Iraq, where the Caliphate was in serious internal disarray. These expeditions were of his own initiative. 'Ali had not ordered them and did not send support for them.

The fighting in Iraq took several years, but at last Ahmad gained control of Baghdad on December 19, 945 without a struggle. He took charge of the administration of the Caliphate by taking the position of amir al-umara'. The Caliph Al-Mustakfi also gave him the honorific title of "Mu'izz al-Daula". 'Ali was given the title of "'Imad al-Daula"; another of Ahmad's brothers, Hasan, who had gained control of northern Persia, gained the title of "Rukn al-Daula". Despite Al-Mustakfi's apparent acceptance of Buyid authority, Mu'izz al-Daula blinded and deposed him in 946, and installed Al-Muti as Caliph.

The next two years of Mu'izz al-Daula's life were spent securing his control over Iraq. The Hamdanids of Mosul attempted to seize Baghdad in 946. When they failed to do so, they gave up on the campaign, but remained hostile against the Buyids. The Baridis, who still controlled Basra and Wasit, were defeated and their lands taken by the Buyids in 947. Their defeat marked the end of major fighting. Mu'izz al-Daula's only failure was against an amirate situated in the marshlands between Basra and Wasit. However, this was of little concern due to the amirate's small size.

Despite the fact that Mu'izz al-Daula had taken control of Iraq by himself, he remained subordinate to 'Imad al-Daula, who ruled in Shiraz. Coins bearing 'Imad al-Daula's name in addition to his own were made. His title of amir al-umara', which in theory made him the senior amir of the Buyids, meant little in reality and was soon claimed by 'Imad al-Daula. Although he maintained a certain level of independence, it was clear that he had to respect the authority of 'Imad al-Daula.

When 'Imad al-Daula died in 949 and Rukn al-Daula took the title of senior amir, Mu'izz al-Daula accepted the change of rulers. He also sent troops to Shiraz to ensure that Fana-Khusrau, who was the son of Rukn al-Daula and 'Imad al-Daula's successor, would take power there. Still, he raised objections when Fana-Khusrau requested the title of "Taj al-Daula". The title of "Taj" ("crown") implied that Fana-Khusrau was superior to his father and uncle, provoking a reaction from Mu'izz al-Daula A more suitable title ("'Adud al-Daula") was instead chosen.

Rukn al-Daula's struggles in northern Persia against various enemies caused Mu'izz al-Daula to send military aid for several years. This, combined with continually having to deal with the Hamdanids, prevented Mu'izz al-Daula from expanding the borders of his state for several years. Despite this, he managed to annex Oman with military support from 'Adud al-Daula, and shortly afterwards undertook a campaign against the Shahinids of the Mesopotamian marshlands. It was during this campaign that he died, in 967. His son 'Izz al-Daula, whom he had named his successor during a serious illness in 955, took power following his death.

Mu'izz al-Daula's entrance into Baghdad in 945 marked over a century of Buyid rule in Iraq, and also of Shi'ite Buyid control over the Sunni Caliphate. Nevertheless, by the time of his death several problems remained unsolved. The Buyids had difficulty becoming accustomed to Baghdad; Mu'izz al-Daula almost left the city in favor of Ahvaz. The enemies of the Buyids, such as the Hamdanids and the Byzantines, continued to pose a threat. The struggle for power between Baghdad and Shiraz that first showed itself during Mu'izz al-Daula's lifetime exploded into violence soon after his death.

Finally, the hostility between the Turks and Dailamites in Baghdad continued to pose a problem. The Sunni Turks, who found their privileges eroded by the Dailamite troops that had entered Baghdad with their master in 945, constantly threatened to upset the internal stability of the state. Mu'izz al-Daula at first favored the Dailamite troops but later attempted to compromise between the two groups, making a Turk named Sebük-Tegin his chief commander. 'Izz al-Daula's ascension would soon upset this balance, however, resulting in internal disunity.Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad Mu‘izz al-Dawla see Mu‘izz al-Dawla, Abu’l-Husayn AhmadDawla, Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad Mu‘izz al- see Mu‘izz al-Dawla, Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad

Mu‘izziMu‘izzi (Slave Kings).Name of a dynasty which ruled in northern India (r. 1206-1290).It was founded by Qutb al-Din Aybak.Slave Kings see Mu‘izzi

Mu‘izz ibn Badis, al-Mu‘izz ibn Badis, al- (1007/1008-1062).Ruler of the Zirid dynasty (r.1016-1062).In the history of Ifriqiya, he remains the artisan of the restoration of Maliki orthodoxy, itself linked to the Hilali invasion of 1057.

Al-Muizz ibn Badis was the fourth ruler of the Zirids in Ifriqiya, reigning from 1016 to 1062.Al-Muizz ascended the throne as a minor following the death of his father Badis ibn Mansur, with his aunt acting as regent. In 1016 there was a bloody revolt in Ifriqiya in which the Fatimid residence Al-Mansuriya was completely destroyed and 20,000 Shiites were massacred. The unrest forced a ceasefire in the conflict with the Hammadids of Algeria, and their independence was finally recognized in 1018.

Al-Muizz took over the government in 1022 following the overthrow of his aunt. The relationship with the Fatimids was strained, when in 1027 they supported a revolt of the Zanatas in Tripolitania which resulted in permanent loss of control of the region. His son Abdallah shortly ruled Sicily in 1038-1040, after intervening with a Zirid army in the civil war that broke out in the island.

The political turmoil notwithstanding, the general economic well-being initially made possible an extensive building program. However, the kingdom found itself in economic crisis in the 1040s, reflected in currency devaluation, epidemic and famine. This may have been related to the high level of tribute which the Zirids were compelled to pay annually to the Fatimids (one million gold dinars a year).

When al-Muizz, under the influence of Sunni jurists in Kairouan, recognised the Abbasids in Baghdad as rightful Caliphs in 1045, the break with the Fatimids was complete.

The Fatimids then deported the Bedouin tribes of the Banu Hilal and the Banu Sulaym from Egypt to Ifriqiya. The invasion of the Bedouin (1051-1052) led to great hardship after the defeat at Jabal Haydaran, severely impacting agriculture in Ifriqiya. The conquest of Kairouan in 1057 resulted in further anarchy. The Zirids lost control over the hinterland and were only able to retain the coastal areas, the capital being moved to Mahdia. With the growth of Bedouin Emirates and the continuing insecurity inland, the economy of Ifriqiya looked increasingly towards the Mediterranean, with the result the coastal cities grew in importance through maritime trade and piracy.

Al-Muizz is usually thought to be the author of the famous Kitab `umdat al-kuttab wa `uddat dhawi al-albab (Staff of the Scribes).

Amir Abdollah Muhammad Mu'izzi was an 11th century and 12th century poet of Persia. He was the poet laureate of Sanjar. Born in 1048 and originating from Nisa, he ranks as one of the great masters of the Persian panegyric qasideh.

Mu'izzi lived in the courts of Malik Shah I and Sultan Sanjar. His divan of 18,000 distichs remain. Anvari accused Mu'izzi of copying the verses of other poets (which cannot be proven for certain), yet Anvari himself is known to have copied Mu'izzi's verses. Mu'izzi is said to have died by the arrow shot at him by the King's son in 1125 for unknown reasons. He was accidentally shot by Sanjar.

Mu‘izz li-Din Allah, Ma‘add al-Mu‘izz li-Din Allah, Ma‘add al-(Ma‘add al-Mu‘izz li-Din Allah) (Ma‘ādh Abū Tamīm al-Mu‘izz li Dīn Allāh) (al-Moezz) ("Fortifier of the Religion of God") (931/932-975).Last caliph of the Fatimid dynasty (r. 953-975).After asserting his control over the central Maghrib against the Kharijites, he turned against the Spanish Umayyad ‘Abd al-Rahman III and his successor al-Hakam II.Hostilities against Byzantium, the ally of the Spanish Umayyads, were resumed in 955.In 963, a Byzantine expeditionary body was destroyed in Sicily and an agreement concluded.In 969, the freedman Jawhar started the famous expedition against Egypt where the Ikhshidids were removed and Cairo was founded.In order to check the Carmathians of Syria, al-Mu‘izz transferred the seat of the Imamate to Egypt in 972.

Ma‘ādh Abū Tamīm al-Mu‘izz li Dīn Allāh was the fourth Fatimid Caliph and reigned from 953 to 975. It was during his caliphate that the center of power of the Fatimid dynasty was moved from Ifriqiya (northern Africa) to the newly-conquered Egypt. Fatimids founded the city of al-Qāhiratu ("the Victorious") in 969 as the new capital of the Fāṭimid caliphate in Egypt.Al-Qahiratu is today known by the name Cairo.

After the Fāṭimids, under the third caliph, Ismail al-Mansur (946-953), had defeated the Khārijite rebellion of Abu Yazid, they began, under his son al-Mu‘izz, to turn their attentions back to their ambition of establishing their caliphate throughout the Islamic world and overthrowing the Abbasids. Although the Fāṭimids were primarily concerned with Egypt and the Near East, there were nevertheless campaigns fought by General Jawhar as-Siqilli against the Berbers of Morocco and the Umayyads of Spain. At the same time, Fatimid raids on Italy enabled naval superiority in the Western Mediterranean to be affirmed, at the expense of Byzantium, even capturing Sicily for a period of time.

The way to Egypt was then clear for the Fāṭimids, the more so given the state of crisis that the incumbent Ikhshidid dynasty found itself in and the inability of the Abbasids to counterattack. The country fell to Jawhar in 969 without any great resistance. After he had secured his position, al-Muˤizz transferred the royal residence from Al-Mansuriya to the newly-founded city of al-Qāhiratu l-Muˤizzīyatu ("al-Muˤizz's Victory"), i.e. Cairo, thereby shifting the center of gravity of the Fatimid realm eastwards. In Africa, the Zirids were installed as regents. In Egypt, several attacks by the Carmathians had to be fought off (972-974) before the restructuring of state finances under Yaqub ibn Killis could be embarked upon. Al-Muˤizz was succeeded by his son Al-Aziz (975-996).

Al-Muˤizz was renowned for his tolerance of other religions, and was popular among his Jewish and Christian subjects. He is also credited for having commissioned the invention of the first fountain pen. In 953, al-Muizz demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes, and was provided with a pen which held ink in a reservoir.

Coptic Christians were allowed a degree of freedom under al-Muizz. Copts were among those appointed to the highest offices of the empire and were allowed to freely practice their religion. Under Al-Muizz, the viceroy of Syria was Quzman ibn-Nima, a Copt who remained a Christian. The Nayrouz festival, the celebration of the Coptic New Year, was permitted though prohibitions on some of the activities, such as fire illumination and water splashing, were instituted.

The relationship between al-Muizz and the Copts of Egypt has been the subject of a number of legends written later by Coptic Christians. One such legend involves al-Muizz challenge of Pope Abraham of Alexandria to move the Mokattam mountain in Cairo, recalling a verse in the Gospel of Matthew which says:

If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

According to Coptic sources, Pope Abraham of Alexandria ordered the Coptic community to keep vigil and to pray for three days and nights. On the third night, Pope Abraham had a dream in which Mary directed him to search for Simon the Tanner. The legend continues that with the prayers of the Coptic community, led by the Pope and Simon, the Mokattam mountain moved. This story is recounted in the book History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria, written by Severus Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ. Later Coptic sources would further assert that this miracle led al-Muizz to convert to Christianity, and that he was baptized at the church of Saint Mercurius in Cairo in a baptismal font that continues to exist to this day, and which is known today as the Sultan's Baptistry. According to this legend, al-Muizz abdicated the throne in favor of his son, and spent the rest of his life in a monastery. This story is rejected by influential Muslim historians such as Ahmad Zaki Pasha and Muhammad Abdullah Enan.Ma‘add al-Mu‘izz li-Din Allah see Mu‘izz li-Din Allah, Ma‘add al-Ma‘ādh Abū Tamīm al-Mu‘izz li Dīn Allāh see Mu‘izz li-Din Allah, Ma‘add al-Moezz, al- see Mu‘izz li-Din Allah, Ma‘add al-Fortifier of the Religion of God see Mu‘izz li-Din Allah, Ma‘add al-

MujaddidMujaddid.Arabic term which literally means “the renewer.”The term mujaddid refers to the scholar or holy-man who comes once every century to restore the true knowledge and practice of Islam.

Mujaddid, according to the popular Muslim tradition, refers to a person who appears at the turn of every century of the Islamic calendar to revive Islam, remove from it any extraneous elements and restore it to its pristine purity. A mujaddid might be a caliph, a wali, a prominent teacher, a scholar or some other kind of influential person. The concept is based on the following Prophetic tradition (hadith): "Allah shall raise for this Umma at the head of every century a man who shall renew (or revive) for it its religion."

However, an eminent Muslim scholar, Muhammad Manzoor Nu'mani, maintains that the above hadith does not support the popular concept that a single Mujaddid will appear exactly at the turn of every century. His argument states that the pronoun used in the hadith is man ("who"), which can be used in both singular and plural sense. Additionally, at the time of Muhammad there was no Islamic calendar in use. It was devised after his demise, during the caliphate of Umar. This suggests that Muhammad was not referring to the centuries of the calendar that is in use today.

Mujahid, al-Muwaffaq ibn ‘Abd AllahMujahid, al-Muwaffaq ibn ‘Abd Allah (al-Muwaffaq ibn ‘Abd Allah Mujahid) was the ruler of Denia (in Arabic, Daniya) in Spain and of the Balearics from 1014 to 1044.Like many other monarchs of the Muluk al-Tawa’if, he was a patron of studies, of theology in particular.

MujahidinMujahidin (Mujahedin).Arabic term which is applied to the “Soldiers of God.”The word mujahidin comes from the same root as the word jihad.

A Mujahid (Arabic: muǧāhid, literally "struggler", "justice-fighter" or "freedom-fighter") is a person who is fighting for freedom. The plural is mujahideen. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad ("struggle").

Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, muđahedin, mujaheddīn and variants.

The best-known mujahideen were the various loosely-aligned Afghan opposition groups, which initially rebelled against the incumbent pro-Soviet Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) government during the late 1970s. At the DRA's request, the Soviet Union intervened. The mujahideen then fought against Soviet and DRA troops during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. After the Soviet Union pulled out of the conflict in the late 1980s the mujahideen fought each other in the subsequent Afghan Civil War.

Afghanistan's resistance movement was born in chaos and, at first, virtually all of its war was waged locally by regional warlords. As warfare became more sophisticated, outside support and regional coordination grew. Even so, the basic units of mujahideen organization and action continued to reflect the highly segmented nature of Afghan society. Eventually, the seven main mujahideen parties allied themselves into the political bloc called Islamic Unity of Afghanistan Mujahideen.

Many Muslims from other countries assisted the various mujahideen groups in Afghanistan, and gained significant bombs in suicidal warfare. Some groups of these veterans have been significant factors in more recent conflicts in and around the Muslim world. Osama bin Laden, originally from a wealthy family in Saudi Arabia, was a prominent organizer and financier of an all-Arab Islamist group of foreign volunteers. His Maktab al-Khadamat funnelled money, arms, and Muslim fighters from around the Muslim world into Afghanistan, with the assistance and support of the Saudi and Pakistani governments. These foreign fighters became known as "Afghan Arabs" and their efforts were coordinated by Abdullah Yusuf Azzam.

The mujahideen were significantly financed and armed (and are alleged to have been trained) by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the administrations of Carter and Reagan, and also by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan under Zia-ul-Haq, Iran, the People's Republic of China and several Western European countries. Pakistan's secret service, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was used as an intermediary for most of these activities to disguise the sources of support for the resistance. One of the CIA's longest and most expensive covert operations was the supplying of billions of dollars in arms to the Afghan mujahideen militants. The arms included Stinger missiles, shoulder-fired, anti-aircraft weapons that they used against Soviet helicopters and that later were in circulation among terrorists who fired such weapons at commercial airliners. Osama bin Laden was among the recipients of United States arms. Between $3–$20 billion in United States funds were funneled into the country to train and equip troops with weapons, including Stinger surface-to-air missiles.

Under Reagan, United States support for the mujahideen evolved into an official United States foreign policy, known as the Reagan Doctrine, which included United States support for anti-Soviet movements in Afghanistan, Angola, Nicaragua, and elsewhere. Ronald Reagan praised the mujahideen as "freedom fighters".

United States financing of the mujahideen Islamic insurgency started, however, before the Soviets invaded and, indeed, the support was provided to "suck" the Soviets into Afghanistan. United States policy, unbeknownst even to the Mujahideen, was part of a larger strategy "to induce a Soviet military intervention."

With instability and bloody civil strife raging in a country on their border, the Soviets invaded in December 1979, fulfilling the hopes of Washington.

More than a half billion dollars of American funding through Pakistan went to the Hizb party led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, making Hekmatyar the recipient of the highest percentage of covert American funding through the Pakistani ISI. Hekmatyar had "almost no grassroots support and no military base inside Afghanistan." Hekmatyar also received the lion's share of aid from Saudi Arabia. The CIA allegedly also gave Hekmatyar immunity for his illegal drug trade activities.

The main base station of mujahideen in Pakistan was the town Badaber, 24 km from Peshawar. Afghan mujahideen were trained at Badaber by military instructors from the United States, Pakistan, and the Republic of China. The base served as the concentration camp for Soviet and DRA P.O.W.s as well. In 1985, a prisoner rebellion destroyed the base, but the incident was concealed by the Pakistani and Soviet governments until the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Mujahideen forces caused serious casualties to the Soviet forces, and made the war very costly for the Soviet Union. Thus in 1989, the Soviet Union withdrew its forces from Afghanistan. Many districts and cities then fell to the mujahideen.In 1992 the DRA's last president, Mohammad Najibullah, was overthrown.

However, the mujahideen did not establish a united government, and many of the larger mujahideen groups began to fight each other over power in Kabul. After several years of devastating fighting, a village mullah organized a new armed movement with the backing of Pakistan. This movement became known as the Taliban ("students" in Arabic), referring to the Saudi-backed religious schools known for producing extremism. Veteran mujahideen were confronted by this radical splinter group in 1996.

The mujahideen militants were portrayed favorably in several mainstream American and Western films:

* The Living Daylights, (1987), a James Bond film* Rambo III (1988)* The Beast (1988)* Charlie Wilson's War (2007)

By 1996, with backing from the Pakistani ISI and Military of Pakistan, as well as al-Qaeda, the Taliban had largely defeated the militias and controlled most of the country. The opposition factions allied themselves together again and became known as the Northern Alliance. In 2001, with U.S.-NATO intervention, the Taliban were ousted from power and a new Afghan government was formed. Many of the former mujahideen gradually were incorporated into the new Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.

At present, the term "mujahideen" is sometimes used to describe insurgent groups (including Taliban and al-Qaeda) who are fighting NATO troops and the Military of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Mujahedin see Mujahidin“Soldiers of God” see MujahidinStrugglers see MujahidinJustice Fighters see MujahidinFreedom Fighters see Mujahidin

Mujahidin-i KhalqMujahidin-i Khalq (Saziman-i Mujahidin-i Khalq-i Iran). The Saziman-i Mujahidin-i Khalq-i Iran (Holy Warrior Organization of the Iranian People) is better known simply as the Iranian Mujahidin.It is a religious, but anti-clerical, organization and constitutes the main opposition to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Mujahidin’s ideology combines Shiism with Marxism.It interprets Islam, especially the Qur’an, the hadiths (sayings of the Prophet and imams), and Shi‘a teachings, to be a divine message for social, economic, and political revolution. It also finds much of Marxism, but not dialectical materialism, to be an indispensible tool for analyzing politics, society, and history.As one of its handbooks declares: “We say ‘no’ to Marxist philosophy, especially atheism.But we say ‘yes’ to Marxist social thought, particularly to its analysis of feudalism, capitalism, and imperialism.”Mujahidin ideas are so similar to those of ‘Ali Shari ‘ati, the famous contemporary thinker, that many commentators have jumped to the erroneous conclusion that Shari‘ati inspired the organization.Actually, the two developed their ideas independently of each other.

The Mujahidin organization was created in the mid-1960s by a group of recent graduates from Tehran University, most from the Colleges of Engineering and Agriculture, who had also studied the Qur’an and Imam ‘Ali’s Nahj al-balaghah (Way of Eloquence) with Ayatollah Mahmud Taleqani.The founding leaders had been members of Mehdi Bazargan’s Nahzat-i Azadi-yi Iran (Liberation Movement of Iran), but after the bloody demonstrations of June 1963, they found their parent party too moderate and too wedded to conventional politics.Even more important, they were all deeply impressed by contemporary guerrilla movements, especially those in Cuba, Vietnam, and Algeria.They concluded that the only way to challenge the Pahlavi regime was through armed struggle and heroic deeds of martyrdom.In their own words: “After June 1963, militants -- irrespective of ideology -- realized one cannot fight tanks with bare hands.We had to ask the question ‘what is to be done?’Our answer was straightforward: ‘armed struggle.’” In their early discussion groups, they studied Che Guevara’s Guerrilla Warfare, Lenin’s What Is to Be Done?, Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth, Regis Debray’s Revolution within the Revolution, and most important of all, Amar Ouzegan’s Le meilleur combat.Ouzegan, a former communist who had become the leading theoretician of the Algerian FLN, argued that Islam was a revolutionary socialist creed and that the only way to fight imperialism and its local lackeys was to resort to the armed struggle and appeal to the religious sentiments of eh masses.The early Mujahidin adopted Le meilleur combat as their main handbook.

In the late 1960s, the Mujahidin collectively wrote a path-breaking book of their own entitled Nahzat-i Husayni (The Husaynite Movement).In this book they argued that Imam Husayn had taken up arms because the Ummayyad Caliphate was exploiting the masses and betraying the Prophet’s

true cause -- the establishment of a classless society, which they termed nizam-i tawhidi (unitary order).This became their battle cry first against the shah and later against the regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.The eternal message of the holy month of Muharram, when Husayn was martyred, Nahzat-i Husayni stressed, was that human beings, unlike animals, had the sacred duty to fight political oppression and class exploitation.The Shi‘a martyrs, the book concluded, were like Che Guevara: they accepted martyrdom as a revolutionary duty and considered the armed struggle against class oppression as their sacred obligation.In short, both the martyrs and Guevara had died fro the cause of social equality.The Mujahidin developed similar ideas in pamphlets entitled Takamul (Evolution toward Perfection), Shinakht (Knowledge), and Iqtisad bih zaban-i sadah (Economics in a Simple Language).

The Mujahidin also developed their own tafsir (explanatory method) for understanding scriptural texts, especially the Qur’an and the Nahj al-balaghah.These texts, they argued, should be treated not as dead parchments, but as “guides” and “living inspirations for revolutionary action.”They should be placed in their proper “historical context” and read for their “real radical essence.” They further argued that the clergy had done to these texts what the reformist Social Democrats of Europe had tried to do to Marx and Engels -- paid lip service to them, turned their teachings into harmless banalities, and emasculated their revolutionary essence.

These early works gave new meanings to old Islamic and Shi‘a terms.For example, the meaning of mustaz‘afan changed from “the meek” to “the exploited masses” (as in Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth); ummah, from “a religious community” to “a dynamic society in constant motion toward a classless society”; jihad, from “crusade” to “liberation struggle”; mu’min, from “the pious believer” to “the true fighter for social justice”; shahid, from “religious martyr” to “revolutionary hero”; mujahid, from “holy warrior” to “freedom fighter”; and most ironic of all, imam, from “religious leader” to “charismatic revolutionary leader.”Some of these new meanings eventually found their way into Khomeini’s own pronouncements.

The Mujahidin launched their guerrilla struggle in 1971 with a series of bombings and armed attacks.In the course of the next eight years, the organization gained a nationwide reputation for courage, determination, and efficiency.At the same time, however, it lost many of its leaders and cadres through arrests, executions, and street shootouts.Of the eighty-three Mujahids who lost their livers from 1971 to 1979; almost all came from the ranks of the young intelligentsia in Tehran and the central Persian-speaking provinces.They were engineers, teachers, accountants, and most often, university students.By the mid-1970s, the Mujahidin, as well as the Marxist Fida’iyan, were considered to constitute the main opposition to the shah.

Despite this success, the Mujahidin suffered a major schism in 1975.Some members declared themselves Marxist-Leninists and denounced Islam as a “conservative petit bourgeois ideology.”Their religious disillusionment was caused by the discovery that Khomeini and the clergy, with the notable exception of Taleqani, refused to support their armed struggles.These Marxists later renamed themselves the Saziman-i Paykar dar Rah-i Azadi-yi Tabaqah-yi Kargar (The Combat Organization for the Emancipation of the Working Class) -- Paykar, in short.Ibrahim Yazdi, a Nahzat-i Azadi leader, argued that this schism so weakened the Mujahidin that it paved the way for the clergy to come to power.The split, he claimed, changed the whole course of Iranian history Akharin Talash-ha dar akharin ruz-ha (The Last Struggles in the Last Days).

By late 1978 and early 1979 little remained of the Mujahidin -- those who were left were incarcerated in prison and led by Mas’ud Rajavi, one of the few early members to have survived the executions and the armed confrontations.A graduate of Tehran University’s law school, Rajavi had been arrested in 1972 and condemned to death.An international effort made on his behalf by his brother, a student in Switzerland, had persuaded the shah to commute Rajavi’s death sentence to life imprisonment.Rajavi did not leave prison until late 1978, but when released, he promptly regrouped his followers, who then helped deliver the old regime its coup de grace in the final street battles of February 1979.

In the two years after the Iranian Revolution, the Mujahidin grew rapidly into a major force.It established branches throughout the country.It rebuilt an underground armed network -- much to the consternation of the new authorities.Its organ, Mujahid, became one of the country’s largest circulation newspapers.Its parliamentary candidates drew substantial votes, in some constituencies posing serious challenges to the clerical favorites.Its electorarl supporters included not only numerous trade unions, leftist organizations, professional associations, and regional parties -- notably, the Kurdish Democratic party -- but also an impressive array of prominent writers, lawyers, politicians, anti-shah politicians, and even some maverick clergymen.Its rallies drew tens of thousands -- sometimes hundreds of thousands -- of enthusiastic supporters.Gradually, the Mujahidin became allied with Abol-Hasan Bani Sadr, the popularly elected president, who, after taking office, accused the clergy of monopolizing power and plotting to establish the “dictatorship of the mullatariat.”

The Mujahidin grew for a numberof reasons.It had a well-earned mystique of revolutionary martyrdom.It adhered to Shiism, but opposed Khomeini’s brand of Islam.It denounced his concept of vilayat-i faqih (wilayat al-faqih – jurist’s trusteeship) and his claim that the clergy had the divine right to rule. It dismissed as “medieval” his attitutdes toward women and his interpretation of shari‘a -- especially on the questions of corporal punishment and laws of vengeance.The Mujahidin often cited Taleqani’s famous warning that “the most dangerous form of tyranny is that of the clergy.”It called for political pluralism, freedom of the press, elected councils in towns, villages, and workplaces, and complete equality for all citizens (men and women, clerics and non-clerics, Muslims and non-Muslims, Shi‘as and Sunnis alike).Moveover, the Mujahidin advocated far-reaching social changes, including land reform, literacy campaigns, medical services, low-income housing, work projects, income redistribution, nationalization of large companies, and worker’s control of industrial factories.In short, the Mujahidin presented a radical but modernist interpretation of Islam.

The Islamic Republic’s restrictions on the Mujahidin intensified as the latter’s popularity increased -- especially after Taleqani, who had tried to mediate between the two, suffered a fatal heart attack.The regime labeled the Mujahidin iltiqati (“eclectic”) and gharbzadah (contaminated with the disease of Westernism).It barred Mujahidin spokesmen from the radio television network; disqualified Rajavi from the presidential race; periodically closed down Mujahid and its provincial offices; and stopped the ballot count in constituencies where Mujahidin candidates were doing well.The Khomeini regime also refused to grant demonstration permits, and it used club-wielders, known as Hizbullahis (those of the Party of God), to break up Mujahidin rallies.More than seventy Mujahids lost their lives in such incidents in 1980 and 1981 almost as many as had been killed in nine years of guerrilla warfare against the shah.Most of the victims were college and high school students.Finally, in June 1981, Khomeini pronounced the Mujahidin to be munafiqin (“hypocrites”), and cited the Qur’an to argue that the “munafiqin were more dangerous than the kafir [infidels].”The regime promptly declared the Mujahidin to be the “enemies of God” and ordered the revolutionary guards to execute summarily Mujahidin demonstrators, irrespective of age.

The Mujahidin countered state terror with its own brand of “revolutionary terror” -- ambushes, suicide attacks, bombings, and assassinations.The regime, in turn, retaliated with a reign of terror unprecedented in Iranian history: mass arrests, torture, executions, and even public hangings.During the height of this terror -- which lasted from June 1981 until September 1985 -- the Mujahidin suffered more than nine thousand dead.Most of them came from the young generation of the intelligentsia: they were teachers, civil servants, doctors, veterinarians, technicians, accountants, and most important, college and high school students.The dead also included some factory workers, especially ones with high school diplomas.In terms of geography, most came from Tehran, the Caspian region, and the Shi‘a and Persian speaking regions of central Iran and northern Khurasan.

The reign of terror forced the leadership, especially Rajavi, to move into exile, first to Paris, after June 1986, to Iraq. In Paris, the Mujahidin created a broad coalition named the Shura-yi Milli-yi Muqavamat (National Council of Resistance).Its avowed goal was to replace the Islamic Republic with a Democratic Islamic Republic.Initially the council included Bani Sadr, the Kurdish Democratic party, and a number of leftist and liberal organizations as well as prominent national figures.In Iraq, the Mujahidin set up training camps, a radio station named Sada-yi Mujahid (Mujahid Voice), and most important, the National Liberation Army -- a well-equipped force of some seven thousand men and women.Moreover, the Mujahidin, using the National Council name, established public-relations offices in the United Nations and in many capitals -- in India, Pakistan, Indonesia, as well as in the West.These offices hold press conferences, fax news bulletins, publish pamphlets, and circulate videos to convince their host publics both that the present Iranian regime is highly unstable and that the National Council is the only viable alternative to the Islamic Republic.In early 1986, for example, these offices collected signatures from more than five thousand public figures -- including thirty-five hundred legislators in Western countries -- denouncing mass executions and violations of human rights in Iran.

Although it remains a significant force in exile, the Mujahidin lost much of its social basis within Iran.The open alliance with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein -- especially during the Iran-Iraqi War -- alienated the general public.Important allies, notably Bani Sadr and the Kurdish Democratic party, have gone their separate ways.In fact, the National Council has been reduced to a mere front organization.The Mujahidin has lost some of its own cadres; some have dropped out of politics, others have created rival off-shoots, yet others have made their peace with Tehran. The organization’s denunciation of former allies as “traitors,” “leeches,” “garbage,” and “parasites” has led many to wonder whether its version of Islam would be any more tolerant than that of Khomeini.

The Mujahidin increasingly became an inward looking religio-political sect.It surrounded its leader with an intense personality cult, proclaiming that “Rajavi is Iran, and Iran is Rajavi.”It purged the half-hearted and denounced them as the enemies of Iran.It ceased publishing intellectual works, serious analyses, and even regular newspapers.For some secular observers, it became another sect -- albeit an armed one -- eagerly awaiting the New Revolution, much in the same way as the early Shi‘as expected the Return of the Mahdi.

Saziman-i Mujahidin-i Khalq-i Iran see Mujahidin-i KhalqHoly Warrior Organization of the Iranian People see Mujahidin-i Khalq

Mujibur RahmanMujibur Rahman (Sheikh Mujibur Rahman) (Shekh Mujibur Rôhman) (Sheikh Mujib) (b. March 17, 1920, Tungipara, India [now in Bangladesh] — d. August 15, 1975, Dhaka, Bangladesh).Prime minister of Bangladesh (1972-1975) and was the president of Bangladesh in 1975.Mujibur began his political career as a student in Calcutta in 1940.He joined with Hussain Shahid Suhrawardy in forming the Awami League in 1949 and became organizer for East Bengal (later East Pakistan).He served jail terms under the Muslim League and Ayub Khan governments.He was minister of commerce in East Pakistan from 1956 to 1957 and assumed leadership of the East Pakistan Awami League after Suhrawardy’s death in 1963.Mujib announced his six-point program for East Pakistani autonomy in 1966; the plan would have retained Pakistan as a confederal entity.He led the Awami League to overwhelming victory in the 1970 elections, winning all but two national assembly seats in East Pakistan and a majority in all of Pakistan.He was arrested by the Pakistan government as part of a military crackdown in March 1971 and held in jail in West Pakistan.He was released and returned to Bangladesh in January 1972.Mujibur led the new Bangladeshi parliament to adopt a parliamentary constitution and became prime minister.In the face of growing opposition he obtained parliamentary approval for a presidential system with himself as president in January 1975.This was followed by creation of a one-party state in June 1975 and increasing authoritarianism.He was assassinated on August 15, 1975, by disgruntled middle-grade military officers.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a Bengali politician and the founding leader of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, generally considered in the country as the father of the Bangladeshi nation. He headed the Awami League, served as the first President of Bangladesh and later became its Prime Minister. He is popularly referred to as Sheikh Mujib, and with the honorary title of Bangabandhu (Bôngobondhu, "Friend of Bengal"). His eldest daughter Sheikh Hasina Wajed became the leader of the Awami League and

the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

A student political leader, Mujib rose in East Pakistani politics and within the ranks of the Awami League as a charismatic and forceful orator. An advocate of socialism, Mujib became popular for his leadership against the ethnic and institutional discrimination of Bengalis. He demanded increased provincial autonomy, and became a fierce opponent of the military rule of Ayub Khan. At the heightening of sectional tensions, Mujib outlined a 6-point autonomy plan, which was seen as separatism in West Pakistan. He was tried in 1968 for allegedly conspiring with the Indian government but was not found guilty. Despite leading his party to a major victory in the 1970 elections, Mujib was not invited to form the government.

After talks broke down with President Yahya Khan and West Pakistani politician Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Sheikh Mujib on March 26, 1971 announced the declaration of independence of East Pakistan and announced the establishment of the sovereign People's Republic of Bangladesh. Subsequently he was arrested and tried by a military court during his nine month detention. Guerrilla war erupted between government forces and Bengali nationalists aided by India. An all out war between the Pakistan Army and Bangladesh-India Joint Forces led to the establishment of Bangladesh, and after his release Mujib assumed office as a provisional president, and later prime minister. Even as a constitution was adopted, proclaiming socialism and a secular democracy, Mujib struggled to address the challenges of intense poverty and unemployment, coupled with rampant corruption. Amidst rising popular agitation, he banned other political parties and established a one party state. After only seven months, Mujib was assassinated along with most of his family by a group of army officers.

Mujib, the son of a middle-class landowner, studied law and political science at the Universities of Calcutta and Dacca (now Dhaka). Although jailed briefly as a teenager for agitating for Indian independence, he began his formal political career in 1949 as a co-founder of the Awami League. The league advocated political autonomy for East Pakistan, the detached eastern part of Pakistan. Mujib’s arrest in the late 1960s incited mob violence that eroded the Pakistani president’s authority in East Pakistan. In the elections of December 1970, Mujib’s Awami League secured a majority of the seats in the National Assembly, and Mujib demanded independence for East Pakistan. Troops from West Pakistan were sent to regain control of the eastern province but were defeated with the help of India. East Pakistan, renamed Bangladesh, was proclaimed an independent republic in 1971, and in January 1972 Mujib, recently released from prison, became the country’s first prime minister. Faced with increasing problems, Mujib took tighter control and assumed the presidency in January 1975. He, along with most of his family, was killed in a coup d’état just seven months later. His daughter, Sheikh Hasina Wazed, who was out of the country at the time of the overthrow, also served as prime minister of Bangladesh (1996–2001; 2009– ).Sheikh Mujibur Rahman see Mujibur RahmanShekh Mujibur Rohman see Mujibur RahmanSheikh Mujib see Mujibur RahmanBangabandhu see Mujibur RahmanBongobondhu see Mujibur RahmanFriend of Bengal see Mujibur Rahman

Mujīr al-Dīn al-'Ulaymī was a Jerusalemite qadi and Arab historian whose principal work chronicled the history of Jerusalem and Hebron in the Middle Ages. Entitled al-Uns al-Jalil bi-tarikh al-Quds wal-Khalil ("The glorious history of Jerusalem and Hebron") (c. 1495), it is considered to be invaluable, constituting "the most comprehensive and detailed source for the history of Jerusalem" written in its time.

Commonly known simply as Mujir al-Din, he was born 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-'Ulaymi during the period of Mameluke rule over Palestine into a family of notables native to the city of Jerusalem. Among his many nisbas is al-Hanbali, referring to the Islamic school of thought to which he adhered. Another is al-'Umari, denoting that his ancenstral lineage traces back to 'Umar ibn al-Khattāb (c. 590-644), the second Rashidun caliph. This nisba and a third, the shuhra ("nickname") of al-'Ulaymi, indicate his association with a prominent 15th century Jerusalemite family of Hanbali scholars and judges, one of whom was the chief Hanbali judge of the city, Shams al-Din al-'Umari al-'Ulaymi.

Mujir al-Din's father, Muhammad ibn 'Adb al-Rahman, was a scholar, and he instructed his son in the religious sciences. His formal education began early, and by the age of six, Mujir al-Din was successfully tested on his knowledge of Arabic grammar by another of his instructors, Taqi al-Din al-Qarqashandi, a Shafi'i sheikh, with whom he also studied the hadiths. At ten years old, he studied Quranic recitation with a Hanafi faqih (one who received the Islamic equivalent of a Master of Law).

He attended Islamic jurisprudence classes given by Kamal al-Din al-Maqdisi, a prominent Shafi'i scholar and qadi, at al-Madrassa al-Salahiyya, the most prestigious college in the city, and at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Al-Maqdisi granted Mujir al-Din an ijaza when he was thirteen years old. In his youth in Jerusalem, he also studied hadith with two other Hanafi scholars (ibn Qamuwwa, a faqih, and the sheikh Shams al-Din al-Ghazzi al-Maqdisi), studying grammar and Hanbali fiqh with a Maliki scholar (the chief judge Nur al-Din al-Misri). When he was approximately eighteen years old, he left for Cairo, where he pursued his studies under the tutlelage of Muhammad al-Sa'di, a qadi, for about ten years, returning to Jerusalem in 1484.

Extensive knowledge of Arabic, Hanbali jurisprudence, and Islamic theology, as well as his hailing from a highly regarded and well-connected family, led to Mujir al-Din's procuring important posts as a public servant. He was appointed the qadi of Ramla in 1484, and the chief Hanbali qadi of Jerusalem in 1486, holding this position for almost three decades until completing his service in 1516.

Mujir al-Din's writings included two volumes of Quranic exegesis, a biographical dictionary of Hanbali scholars, a general history from the time of Adam through to the Middle Ages, and a work on the visitation of holy places, but the only one of these to be published was "The glorious history of Jerusalem and Hebron". The central focus of the book, despite its title, is the history of Jerusalem. Though many books had been written by other Arab and Muslim authors on the virtues of Jerusalem, including about 30 composed during the Mameluke period alone, none of these set out to provide a comprehensive history of the city, making Mujir al-Din's work unique in both scope and design.

The book is divided into four parts. The first outlines the history of Jerusalem, and to a lesser degree Hebron, from the time of Adam to the end of the 13th century of the Christian calendar, incorporating both political developments and events of importance to Islamic and pre-Islamic monotheistic traditions. The second part provides a physical description of shrines and landmarks in Hebron and Jerusalem, with a focus on Muslim sites. Biographies of the various governors of Jerusalem and Hebron in the Ayyubid and Mameluke periods, as well as those of notable Mameluke figures who undertook special works in these cities are provided in part three. The fourth part concerns itself with the history of Jerusalem during Mujir al-Din's own lifetime, under the rule of Mameluke Sultan Qait Bay. Composed in Jerusalem, Mujir al-Din alternates in referring to his place of residence as Filastin ("Palestine") and al-Ard al-Muqaddasa ("the Holy Land").

Mujir al-Din's writings are quoted extensively in the works of 19th century Orientalists and 20th and 21st century scholars alike. It is particularly valuable for what it reveals about the topography and social life of 15th century Jerusalem.

Mujir al-Din died in 1522. He was buried at the base of the Mount of Olives just outside the walls of the Old City, a little to the north of the Garden of Gethsemane, between it and the Tomb of Mary. His tomb, with its gondola-shaped dome, lies in the middle of the sidewalk on the main road and there are steps leading down from it on both sides to the Tomb of the Virgin.

There is also a shrine in Nablus dedicated to the memory of Mujir Al-Din.

Members of the Jerusalemite family of Quttainah are documented to be the descendants of Mujir al-Din al-Hanbali. On a Palestinian geneaology website, they write that the nickname Quttainah (meaning "dried fig") was given to the al-Hanbali family some 300 years ago due to their use of dried figs to cover gold they were trading in within Palestine from road robbers. The Quttainah family continues to own numerous properties in and around the Old City, including waqf properties. Since the 1948 Palestinian exodus, some members of the family live in the Palestinian diaspora, in other Middle Eastern countries and the Persian Gulf region.